Nothing Makes Us So Lonely As Our Secrets
by ytteb
Summary: Someone from Tony's past turns up in connection with a case. Tony is shocked and so are the team as secrets are revealed. Tony centric but whole team involved. Final chapter up.
1. Chapter 1

_I don't think this is going to be a very cheerful story … just a warning._

 _The title is a quote from Paul Tournier – I know nothing about him but the quote seems to fit Tony._

* * *

The day that it all began to unravel began as so many other days had. Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo was regaling his hapless colleague Timothy McGee with a lurid account of the previous night's tryst with Samantha.

"Never seen legs so long, Probie," he said reminiscently, "fingers so flexible, butt so … ouch!" he exclaimed as Agent Gibbs' hand made its familiar contact with DiNozzo's head.

"Cut it out!" Gibbs ordered, "I do _not_ want to have to sit through another sexual harassment lecture because you can't keep your mind on the job!"

"Well, actually," said a rash DiNozzo, "it could be argued that the mating drive of a healthy adult male is his raison d'être. So it is my job … shutting up, Boss. And good morning, Director." Tony cursed inwardly as he realised that Gibbs and the Director had both arrived at an inopportune moment. He tried to smile nonchalantly while Tim hid a smirk.

Tony went back to his own desk and drew some papers towards him in an effort to look efficient and busy.

"Listen up," said Gibbs, "we got a new case."

Tim, Tony and Ellie looked up with interest. They had been working cold cases for a week or so and the novelty had worn off long ago.

"This is Becca Whitely," Gibbs gestured to a youngish woman who was standing between him and Vance. Bishop and Tim nodded politely. "Ms Whitely works as an accounts manager for Criterion Pensions and Investments out of Annandale. She contacted the FBI yesterday over concerns she has about the way in which investments and pensions have been sold to navy personnel."

"Um, isn't that a job for U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission?" suggested Tim.

"Normally it would be," agreed Vance, "but …"

"But the car Ms Whitely was about to drive was in a crash shortly after she made the call. Brake lines had been cut," said Gibbs, "and it was mostly navy veterans who seem to be the victims so we're taking the lead."

"Ms Whitely will be under our protection while we investigate her concerns and find out who was responsible for the damage to the car," added the Director. "We're grateful to you for alerting us to what seems to be going on at your company, Ms Whitely. Rest assured that we will keep you safe. Agent Gibbs, I'll leave this in your hands. Keep me informed," and he turned to go.

"Uh," came Tony's strangled voice. The Director and the MCRT turned to look at him. Gibbs and McGee daw that he looked paler than he had when recovering from the plague.

"What?" asked Gibbs brusquely.

"Um. I think you need to bench me for this case."

"What? Why?" demanded Gibbs.

"I-I-I know Rebec … er … Ms Whitely," stammered Tony.

A subdued chuckle swept through the squad room.

"Hardly surprising, DiNozzo," said Gibbs, "just be professional."

The unspoken thought _for a change_ was on some lips.

"But, Boss. I …" began Tony.

"McGee, Bishop," ordered Gibbs, "take Ms Whitely to a conference room. Get her settled. I, _we_ , will join you later."

Ms Whitely looked in Tony's direction but he pointedly avoided her eyes. She sighed softly and allowed herself to be taken away. Bishop and McGee walked as slowly as possible in the hope of overhearing some of the conversation. In this they were disappointed as Gibbs made sure they were gone before going to stand threateningly in front of Tony.

"You want to explain what's going on here, DiNozzo?"

"Hey, when my Dad was in town and accused of murder you made me stand down. I thought you'd want me to," protested Tony.

"You want to try that again?" asked Gibbs, "'cos I don't remember you looking as if you were about to faint when your Dad showed up."

"I wasn't going to faint," said Tony, "DiNozzos don't pass out."

"There's something going on," said Gibbs implacably, "so, enlighten me."

"I … I … knew Rebecca."

"And?"

"We were in a relationship."

Gibbs was surprised. He had never heard Tony apply those words to himself. "Bad break up?" he asked.

"Could say that," said Tony briefly.

"How long ago?" asked Gibbs gently.

"It was just after I finished at the Peoria Academy," said Tony reluctantly.

"Jeez, DiNozzo! That's 20 years ago." Tony didn't reply. Gibbs tried to think what to say, "Look, Tony, I've had two of my _ex-wives_ turn up in cases and I managed."

Tony gazed at the Boss and wondered if Gibbs thought that was true. Perhaps Gibbs had managed but it had created an odd atmosphere in the rest of his team.

"I really think you should bench me for this one, Boss," Tony said.

"Not going to happen," said Gibbs decisively, "we need our full team on this one. I don't want to bring anyone else in."

"But …"

"No buts, DiNozzo. That's my decision."

"OK," said Tony reluctantly, "but please, don't put me in the safe house with her."

"Can't promise that, DiNozzo, but you won't be on your own with her. We won't let her jump you."

"Thanks, Boss," said Tony clearly still unhappy.

"What you do to piss her off so much anyway?" asked Gibbs.

"Nothing," said Tony, "I didn't do anything."

"Come on then," said Gibbs, "we got work to do."

NCISNCIS

In the conference room, McGee and Bishop were trying to gather information.

"So, Ms Whitely," began Tim.

"Oh, please. Call me Becca."

"OK. Becca. I'm Tim McGee and this is Ellie Bishop."

"Nice to meet you," said Becca quietly, "although this is all a bit overwhelming, you know."

"We understand," said Ellie, "but the Director was right when he said that we would keep you safe."

"Thank you, I'm sure you are good at your jobs. It's just that … yesterday everything seemed normal and then … and then, all of a sudden, it wasn't. Then I was with the FBI, then here and then there was Ads um, Agent DiNozzo …"

"Ah, yes, Tony," said McGee trying to sound nonchalant, "so you know Tony?"

"Yes," she sighed.

"Um, how do you know him?" asked Ellie.

"Oh, you know," said Becca.

"Yes," said Tim, "Tony does know a lot of women." Becca's eyes filled with tears and Tim hurried on, "well. So he says anyway. But not many turn up as victims of crime." He replayed that in his head and thought it might have given the wrong impression. "I mean … well, I didn't mean to imply that his ex-girlfriends end up as victims of crime … you know, a crime that he's committed. I just meant to say that this isn't how we meet his exes. You know …"

Becca laid a gentle hand on Tim's arm, "I understand. You must be a good friend to Ads," she smiled tremulously, "I'm glad he has someone."

"So," said Ellie, "did you … date?"

"You could say that," said Becca.

"When?" asked Tim.

"We were at Ohio State together," said Becca.

"Are you a Phys Ed major too?" asked Ellie.

"Oh no. I did accountancy and computer studies. Wasn't even a cheerleader. I went to watch a game with my boyfriend and well, saw Ads."

"What happened?" asked Tim but Gibbs swept into the room before Becca could answer. Tony stood reluctantly by the door.

"Ms Whitely," said Gibbs, "we'll make arrangements for a safe house tonight. Agents Bishop and McGee will go to your apartment with you so you can pack what you need for a few days. Before that, we'll go over your statement and I'll take you down to our forensic scientist so that she can start going over your computer, phone, other records to try and see what we're dealing with."

"What do you want us to do, Boss?" asked Tim.

"Bishop is with me. You and DiNozzo start looking at Ms Whitely's car. Work out what happened."

"Yes, Boss," said Tim. Tony just nodded. He hadn't said anything since entering the room and had once again avoided looking at Becca. He left the room immediately and Tim hurried to follow him.

"So," said Tim as they walked back to the squad room, "you used to know Becca?"

"FBI have sent over copies of the crashed car," said Tony, "I'll get on to them to send the car over as well."

"She said you knew each other at Ohio," persisted Tim, "says she was an accountancy and computer student."

"I'll contact the SEC," continued Tony, "see if they had anything in the wind about this company."

"Come on, Tony. It's not like you to be bashful about one of your conquests. What happened?"

"Thought you didn't like hearing about my _conquests_ ," said Tony coldly, "so let's leave it at that, McGee."

McGee frowned at Tony but decided he was doing his _I'm an efficient federal agent_ pose and that further argument was useless. Besides, he thought, Gibbs was bringing Becca down to Abby later: _she_ would get all the details.

After a few minutes reading the information already supplied by the FBI, McGee exclaimed,

"Hey. The Director didn't say anything about a casualty in the crash."

"Who?" Tony looked up from his computer.

"David Murchison. Becca's deputy. She says they were due to come to a meeting in DC. She sent him to get the car while she made the phone call to the FBI."

"He was in a crash between the parking lot and picking her up?" said Tony sceptically.

"No," said McGee as he looked at the detail, "It was a hire car. He went to pick it up from the other side of Annandale. The car went out of control as he was driving back."

"Why didn't the rental company deliver the car?" asked Tony, "that's weird."

"Don't know," said Tim.

"We'll go visit the rental company," said Tony, "find out why."

They were gathering their gear when Gibbs returned.

"McGee, you go down to Abby's lab and help her with the computer gizmo stuff."

"We were about to go visit the car rental place," said Tony.

"Take Bishop instead," said Gibbs.

"OK," said Tony, wondering if Ellie would be less nosey than McGee but suspicious of Tim's happy smile at being dispatched to work with Abby and Becca.

Tony phoned down to Abby's lab to tell Bishop to go get a car and then collected his gear and left. On his own in the squad room, Gibbs rubbed his temples as he felt the beginning of a tension headache. He didn't like the look on Tony's face and he'd found Ms Whitely's explanation of the accounting processes at her firm to be excruciatingly boring; he wished he could find an excuse to ship the whole thing back to the FBI. A thought struck him, and he picked up the phone,

"McGee."

"Yes, Boss."

"Run a full background check on Ms Whitely."

"Boss?"

"Standard procedure, McGee. Need to know she's legit."

"Yes, Boss." McGee restrained himself from rubbing his hands in delight.

In the squad room, Gibbs sighed and started reading the paperwork already supplied by the FBI.

NCISNCIS

In the lab, Abby had introduced Bert to Becca who, after an initial expression of disbelief, seemed to have fallen in love with him. She sat on one of Abby's stools and hugged the hippo,

"I can see why you like him, Abby," she said, "Makes you feel secure. Like they say, 'the best thing about hugs is that one size fits all." She gave a wobbly smile and clutched Bert tightly.

"Aww," said Abby, "I know just what you mean," and she reached over and gave Becca an Abby special hug.

"Thank you, Abby," said Becca, "you do good hugs."

"Not as good as Gibbs," said Abby modestly, "you wouldn't think it to see him but that man gives the best hugs."

"I can see that," said Becca, "he looks sort of fatherly."

"Exactly," said Abby approvingly, "although Tony does great hugs too."

"But not fatherly?" teased Becca.

"No. More brotherly. Or perhaps friendly? I don't know. What do you think, Tim?"

"I don't think I'm the best judge of what sort of hugger Tony is," said McGee with a hint of alarm.

"Um, McGee says that you and Tony knew each other? Before? I mean, before today?"

"Yes. Ads and I were at Ohio together."

"Ads?" asked Abby.

"Oh. It was my nickname for him. You know, his initials AD and I put S on the end."

"That's sweet," said Abby doubtfully.

"I wanted to call him something that was just for us," said Becca, "and he was the only person who ever called me Rebecca. It was like our own personal language."

"Cute," said Abby even more doubtful. Somehow, a Tony who let someone give him a pet name was something outside her experience.

"What was he like then?" asked Tim even as he was doing the background search on Becca.

"I'm not sure I should say," said Becca, "I mean, did he ever mention me?"

"Not that I remember," said Abby, "but … well … you see …"

"What Abby's trying to say is that Tony has had a lot of lady friends since we've known him," said McGee."

"Yes. I sort of got that impression from what Agent Gibbs said when we met this morning," said Becca ruefully. "You know, when he hit Ads on the head. Well, Ads was always popular with the girls on Campus so it's not too much of a surprise."

"Did you date for long?" asked Abby.

"Why do you want to know?" asked Becca.

"Oh! Not for bad reasons," said Abby hastily, "I don't want to find anything to blackmail him with or anything. It's just because I love Tony; it's neat to find out more about him. He can be secretive, you know. You get the impression that he tells you everything …"

"He does tell us everything, Abby," said Tim, "You know that. Remember what he told you last week about that bad sushi he ate? And the time when he went dumpster diving behind that pizza shop?"

"Yes, I know," said Abby, "but sometimes he talks without telling us anything. And he never told us about rescuing that kid from the fire. Tony has some secret stuff."

"That sounds like the Ads I knew," said Becca sadly, "you think you've got an open book but then you find there's whole chapters you never got to read."

"Exactly!" said Abby triumphantly, "see, McGee. It takes a woman to read Tony. Or a Gibbs."

"And it sounds as if I'm a chapter that Ads hasn't shown you," observed Becca.

"So," said Abby, "what was Tony like back then? The only person we've met who really knew him is his Dad."

"Tony Senior?" asked Becca. Abby nodded. "Oh," said Becca, "he was a real sweetheart. So charming. The complete gentleman."

"Really?" said McGee.

"Oh yes," said Becca.

McGee shrugged, he guessed Senior was more popular with women than men.

"So," Abby continued to press, "What was Tony like?"

"Good looking," said Becca, "popular. Look, I'm not sure I feel comfortable talking about Ads like this. If he hasn't mentioned me to you … well, you know, and he didn't look real pleased to see me today."

"OK," said Abby reluctantly, "I understand."

"I can tell you that he was very romantic," Becca seemed to relent, "not always very practical. We …"

"Were married!" exclaimed McGee as he gazed at his lap top in disbelief, "you and Tony were married?"

* * *

 _AN: during 'Kill Ari part 2' ghost Kate has a dig at Tony about women who intimidate him: including Marla the divorce lawyer. Why does Tony have bad memories of a divorce lawyer? It's always intrigued me and I've finally come up with my version of an answer._


	2. Chapter 2

Meanwhile Tony and Ellie were on their way to Annandale. Silence reigned for a few miles until Tony could take it no more,

"Say it, Bishop."

"Say what?"

"Whatever it is you want to ask. You're practically vibrating there."

"I'm not," began Ellie before she ground to a halt. "Oh, perhaps I am. Becca said you knew her at OSU?"

"That's right," said Tony keeping his eyes on the road.

"Did you know her long?"

"We dated for a couple of years, if you think that's long."

Bishop hadn't known Tony long but she knew enough to think that two years was almost a lifetime in DiNozzo years.

"Wow," said Ellie.

Tony braced himself. He knew that Gibbs would have set McGee to doing a background check on Becca and he knew what would be found. Tony decided he might as well tell Ellie; in any case she would know within nanoseconds of Tim finding out.

"We got married," he said, still with his eyes on the road.

"Married?" squeaked Ellie, "wow. I mean … what happened? How long for?"

"Not long."

"What happened?"

"Not much."

"But you split up? Got divorced?"

"Yes. And no."

"What does that mean, Tony?"

"Yes, we split up. No, we didn't get divorced."

"You're still married?"

"No. She got an annulment."

"An annulment? But why?"

"We're here," announced Tony, "Able Car Rental. Back to work, Probie." He was out of the car and striding towards the office before Ellie could shut her mouth.

NCISNCIS

"You and Tony were married?" said McGee in disbelief.

"Married?" gasped Abby.

Becca clutched Bert a bit closer and gave a sad sniff, "Yes. We were."

"How long? What happened?" asked Abby.

"We were very young," said Becca, "and I guess we were too impulsive."

"You ran away to get married?" breathed Abby.

"No. We got married with everyone there," said Becca, "it was a very happy day." She put an odd emphasis on the word _day_.

"What happened?" asked Abby returning to a previous question.

"We were too young," repeated Becca, "it's painful to talk about."

"OK," said Abby reluctantly, "we understand. It must be difficult. We don't want to bring back bad memories."

"Ads was insistent," said Becca, "I thought perhaps we should wait. You know, so much had changed for him. We thought he was going to be playing pro basketball but it all fell apart and he just decided he wanted to join the police and go off to Peoria."

"What happened afterwards?" asked McGee.

"I found a job in Peoria. It wasn't much but it helped with the bills. And then Ads …" her voice failed and she came to a halt.

Abby put a comforting arm round her shoulders, "it's all right. Take your time."

"Thank you, Abby. I'm OK. I've learned to be strong. And I am most of the time; it's just that today has been difficult. Seeing Ads. Hearing what you said about his other women. Let's just say that it brought back memories. Not all of them happy." She put her face in her hands and sobbed quietly.

"Er," said Tim after a few minutes, "I'm going to see Gibbs." He made a face at Abby: she wasn't sure exactly what it meant but thought the gist was that crying women weren't his thing and she was on her own.

McGee found Gibbs at his desk and Tim scurried up to report.

"Boss!"

"McGee," said Gibbs wearily.

"I've been doing the background on Becca … Ms Whitely," said Tim.

"Is it finished?"

"No, but …"

"Why are you up here if you haven't finished, McGee?"

"Boss, I thought you'd want to know," Tim paused and looked around before lowering his voice and leaning forward to say, "Tony used to be married to Becca!"

Tim thought this was probably one of the few times he had seen Gibbs looking surprised although the stoic expression was soon back in place and his quizzical _So?_ was a masterpiece. Tim floundered a little so Gibbs continued,

"Do you think DiNozzo's marital history has a bearing on this case, McGee?"

"Uh, no, Boss. But you told us to do a background on Becca."

"I did," agreed Gibbs, "and as far as I can tell, you haven't finished it yet."

"No, Boss. I mean, yes, Boss. I mean, I'll get right on it, Boss," and he hurried away.

Left alone, Gibbs found himself not quite as unshaken as he was pretending and also wondering if he should have let DiNozzo off the hook that morning. His phone rang at that moment.

"Gibbs."

"Boss. Probish and me, we visited the car rental place."

"And?"

"Manager wasn't there but the receptionist confirmed that someone from Criterion Pensions phoned to rent a car."

"Good."

"What's a bit hinky is that they said someone would come and collect the car; that there was no need to deliver it."

"That happen before?"

"No, said they would usually deliver it but they were busy so they didn't query it. Made it quicker for them. Car was booked the day before."

"How soon after the car was picked up did it crash?"

"Bout 20 minutes. I've got them looking for CCTV footage of their parking lot. Car was parked in their lot overnight. They're going to send it to Abby."

"Who collected the car?"

"David Murchison. How's he doing, Boss?"

"Just heard from the hospital. He died from his injuries. Never regained consciousness."

"Damn," said Tony, "what do you want us to do next? We could go to Criterion, ask around?"

"No," Gibbs decided, "you and Bishop head back here. Do a background on Murchison. We'll wait to see what Abby and McGee find on Becca's computer and phone. We'll go to the company later."

"On it, Boss."

"And DiNozzo …"

"Yes, Boss?"

"… nothing. It'll keep."

Gibbs put the phone down with a thoughtful expression on his face. He sat for a moment or two and then went down to Abby's lab. Becca was still hugging Bert and she had the remains of tears on her face.

"Hi, Gibbs," said Abby uncomfortably, "um … well, er … we're still looking at the computer records."

"Ms Whitely," said Gibbs, "what can you tell me about David Murchison?"

"Well, he was a good worker, very diligent. I _thought_ he was very 'by the book'."

"You thought? Did you change your mind?" asked Gibbs as he picked up on her uncertainty.

"I guess. I found him doing extra things. Some additional records of his own."

"Not just being thorough?"

"It could have been," agreed Becca.

"But?"

"Sometimes fraudsters keep duplicate records so they can cover up what they're doing."

"And you think that's what Murchison was doing?"

"I didn't want to think that. But then I began to think that perhaps some of the numbers didn't look right."

"And what did you do about that?" asked Gibbs.

"Like I said, I didn't want to believe it and so I decided to keep an eye on David."

"And did you find anything?" asked McGee.

"Nothing obvious. Well, not to an outsider but it became clear that he was doing something."

"And that's when you called the FBI?" asked Gibbs.

"Yes. I didn't know what else to do."

"And did Murchison know what you suspected?" said Gibbs.

Becca hesitated for a moment, "he may have done," she admitted, "I felt I should keep an eye on him. So I told him I'd go with him to the meeting in DC and …"

"And?"

"I sent him across town to pick up the rental. It gave me a bit of time."

"That was a good thought," said McGee.

Becca smiled gratefully. "While he was gone, I called the FBI but … but … he didn't come back. How is he? Have you heard, Agent Gibbs?"

"Yes," said Gibbs levelly, "he died a short time ago."

"Oh," gasped Becca, putting her hand to her mouth, "did – did – did he say anything before he died?"

"No. He never woke up."

"Oh. Oh, that poor man. I mean, I know he was defrauding the company and that was wrong; very wrong. But I liked him. Oh, I can't believe it."

"We've arranged the safe house, Ms Whitely. When Agent Bishop gets back, she and Agent McGee will escort you to your apartment and then take you to the safe house for the night. We'll resume this tomorrow."

"Thank you," said Becca with an attempt at a smile, "will Ads … I mean, Agent DiNozzo be there as well?"

"No," said Gibbs briefly, "he won't."

Becca nodded but Gibbs couldn't tell whether it was from relief or sadness.

NCISNCIS

Later that evening Gibbs and Tony were alone in the squad room. Bishop and McGee had just reported that they had successfully placed Becca in the safe house for the night.

"David Murchison," said Tony, "former lieutenant in the Amphibious Construction Battalion based at Little Creek. Served ten years. Came out five years ago and retrained as an accountant. Went to work at Criterion six months ago."

"Bit of a career change," commented Gibbs.

"He got married. His wife was sick so he decided he needed to get a civilian job so he could stay home."

Gibbs nodded, "ACB, eh? He'd have had a background in mechanics, cars, other vehicles."

"Yep. You thinking he'd have known enough to cut brake lines on a car?" asked Tony.

"Yeah."

"Doesn't make a whole lot of sense though, does it?" said Tony, "I mean, cutting brake lines and then driving the car away. Unless he was committing suicide?"

"That what you think, DiNozzo?"

"Not how I'd choose to do it, Boss, but who knows?"

Gibbs shrugged, "might have just gone wrong, I guess. Just because you can steal money doesn't mean you're a mastermind at everything. Leave it for now. McGee and Abby will work on the records tomorrow; see if they work out if Murchison was involved. We'll go visit Criterion."

"OK, Boss," agreed Tony as he powered down his computer and prepared to leave.

"You OK, DiNozzo?" asked Gibbs.

"I'm fine, Boss," said Tony automatically. Gibbs looked at him sceptically. "OK," he amended, "it was a bit of a shock. I didn't know that Rebecca was working so close, certainly didn't expect to see her here."

"You didn't keep in touch?"

"No, Boss. I never wanted to see her again. Ever." With that he slung his backpack on to his shoulder, "Night, Boss. See you tomorrow," and he was gone. Gibbs watched him go.

NCISNCIS

The next morning Gibbs called a meeting of everyone down in Abby's lab. Tony stayed near the door, as far away as possible from Becca.

"Abby, McGee, carry on working with Ms Whitely on her records. And check what David Murchison had been doing. Bishop, check to see if the CCTV of the car rental company has come through and look at it to see if you can spot the car being tampered with. DiNozzo, you're with me, we're going to Criterion.

"Agent Gibbs," said Becca, "I found David's extra records in a spare file cabinet, they may still be there. The cabinet's in a back office."

"Not his office?" asked Gibbs.

"No. We worked in an open plan office but there were side rooms for when we needed to work privately or confidentially."

"How'd you know they were Murchison's records?" asked Tony.

"What?" asked Becca.

"How did you know they were his if it wasn't his office or his file cabinet?"

"I recognised his hand writing."

"What were you doing nosing round in spare cabinets?" asked Tony.

"It's part of my job," said Becca with dignity, "making sure no financial records were left lying round. Anyway, you should know that I like things to be tidy. I spent enough time picking up your socks!"

She threw him a challenging look and, to everyone's surprise, Tony gave a brief smile in acknowledgement. It was the first sign of any softening towards her. Becca took a step towards him when she saw the smile but he backed away at once,

"I'll go gas the car, Boss," he said as he left the lab.

Abby had felt a surge of hope at Tony's smile but now she felt deflated again. She saw that Becca looked similarly glum and hastened to try and reassure her,

"He's busy," she said excusingly, "no time to stop and talk."

"Thanks, Abby," said Becca, "but I can see what's going on. For some reason he hates me. I thought that we'd stayed friends but I can see I was wrong." She reached for a tissue and wiped her eyes.

"Er," said McGee, uncomfortable with all the emotions swirling round, "shall we carry on looking at your computer records, Becca?"

"Sure," said Becca, seemingly relieved to get on to less personal matters, "let's do that."

NCISNCIS

Tony's cell rang as he and Gibbs were on their way to Annandale.

"DiNozzo."

"Tony, it's Bishop here. I've looked at the CCTV footage but Murchison's car was parked in a spot away from the cameras."

Tony had put the call on speaker so Gibbs could hear as well and they both grimaced when they heard Ellie's report.

"Why do the bad guys always know where the cameras are?" asked Tony rhetorically. "OK, Bishop. Thanks."

"I couldn't see anyone climbing the fence," offered Ellie, "the cameras are trained on the most vulnerable points and I didn't see anyone getting over."

"Bishop," said Gibbs, "check to see the last time that car was rented out. Might have been tampered with before."

"Yes, Gibbs."

"Probie, are we sure that the brake lines were cut? That they didn't just fail?" asked Tony.

"FBI seemed pretty sure," said Ellie, "what? You thinking this might just have been an accident? Just a coincidence that it happened after Becca reported Murchison to the FBI?"

"Ouch," said Tony, "we've got rules against coincidences. Check anyway."

"OK," said Bishop, "anything else?"

"Nope. Good work, Probish. Have a snack as a reward."

Ellie laughed and disconnected the call.

"How long did you say it was from Murchison collecting the car to crashing it?" asked Gibbs.

"Bout 15 or 20 minutes," answered Tony, "nobody knows exactly when he left Able Cars but the time of the accident is pretty accurate."

"Where was the crash? Annandale?" asked Gibbs.

"No," said Tony, "it was on the interstate."

"Interstate?" repeated Gibbs.

"Yes. Which, now you mention it, doesn't make sense, does it? What was he doing on the road to DC if he was meant to be going to pick Rebecca up?"

"Criterion is on the other side of Annandale," said Gibbs. "He wasn't going to pick her up."

"Does that prove he knew she was on to him?"

"Still doesn't add up. Why did he cut the brakes on a car he was going to drive?" said Gibbs.

"Might mean there's someone else involved," said Tony, "someone else after Rebecca."

Gibbs stepped on the gas to get there faster.

NCISNCIS

"Definitely looks as if there was something hinky going on with Murchison's computer," said McGee as he looked at the laptop.

"Hinky?" queried Becca.

"Oh, it's an Abby word," said McGee, "sort of means …"

"… hinky," said Abby, "you know. Odd. Weird. Cross between spooky and … Actually, I don't know what's is a cross of. But …"

"I think I know what it means," said Becca, "I might use it myself."

"So what've you found that's hinky?" asked Abby.

"Hidden files. Something big which is password protected," said McGee, "and I think some stuff has been deleted or overwritten. I need to get into the logs."

"Oh," said Becca, "I've got some notes about maintenance history. Would that help? So you can see what was routine and what might be _hinky_?"

"Thanks," said Tim, "that would be great."

"I'll just get them," said Becca, "they're in my briefcase."

Abby and Becca both reached for the case at the same time and, in the confusion, knocked it to the floor causing the contents to spill out.

"I'm so sorry," said Abby, dropping to the floor to pick things up.

"Not your fault," said Becca, as she joined her, "I'm real clumsy."

"Oh," said Abby suddenly as she picked up a small book, "oh!"

McGee looked to see what had surprised Abby and saw that it was a picture album which had fallen open at a photo. It was a wedding photo and showed Tony and Becca standing arm in arm in front of a church. McGee found himself swallowing back unexpected emotion as he looked at the photo: Tony had the widest, happiest smile McGee had ever seen on his face and Becca was looking at him adoringly. Abby wiped a tear away. Becca took the book back and gently rubbed a finger over the picture and said,

"You can see how happy we were."


	3. Chapter 3

If asked, Tony would probably have said that car journeys with Gibbs were always quiet but the trip to Annandale beat all records for silence. After the conversation with Bishop, Gibbs said nothing but drove sedately to Criterion. Tony wasn't sure whether it was the silence or the uncharacteristically careful driving which worried him most.

As they walked up to the office door, Tony broke the silence,

"What do Criterion know?"

"Chief Executive knows that we're investigating some concerns but it's been agreed that nothing is to be made public until we know what's going on. Don't want to create a panic among the investors."

"What about any that are about to invest?" queried Tony, "doesn't seem fair to let them put their money in something which might be dodgy."

"No new investments being taken," Gibbs reassured him, "people are being told there's a computer glitch which is stopping any more business being done."

"OK," said Tony, "so what will the high-ups say about us being here?"

"Chief Exec and Ms Whitely have said we're investigating the suspicious death of Murchison."

"And why is NCIS involved in that?" asked Tony.

"Murchison used to be Navy. That's our 'in'."

Tony nodded and, as they had arrived at the reception desk, bestowed a dazzling smile on the young woman who was sitting there. Gibbs sighed as he saw her blush.

"Special Agents Gibbs and DiNozzo to see Cooper Denton," he said as he showed his badge.

"Come this way, please," she said, getting up and leading them down the hallway. Gibbs sighed again as she produced a provocative wiggle; Tony smiled with contentment as he realised he still 'had it'.

"The agents from NCIS, Mr Denton," she announced as she entered a large office.

"Thank you, Tiffany," said the elderly man sitting at a desk by the window, "would you like some refreshments after your journey from Washington?" he asked.

"Well, it did take longer than usual," said Tony thoughtfully.

"Was the traffic bad?" asked Denton.

"Traffic was fine," said Gibbs delivering a glare in Tony's direction and wishing he could administer a head slap. He looked at Tiffany and decided that she probably made weak insipid coffee, "we're fine. Don't need any refreshments."

Denton dismissed Tiffany who cast a longing look at Tony as she reluctantly went back to her desk.

"This is all very shocking, Agent Gibbs," said Denton when they were alone. "First David was in that terrible accident and then I hear that Becca feels he may have been defrauding the company. I handpicked him for the job and I would have staked my reputation that he was honest. Well, I suppose I _have_ staked my reputation and the reputation of my company. We're a relatively small concern, Agent Gibbs, and I'm not sure how we will be able to weather this storm. It's very …"

"I understand," said Gibbs, breaking in to stop the flow, "what can you tell me about your company. Personnel, organization and so on?"

"I leave most of the day to day running to Becca," said Denton, "she came on board about five months ago and she's been an absolute treasure. I'm a bit old fashioned, Agent Gibbs; you know, I've never really brought into all this computer stuff and technology. But Becca's very modern in her outlook and all this computer stuff is meat and potatoes to her. Goes over my head but she introduced lots of new protocols that the SEC are keen on and I don't know what I'd have done without her. My wife is delighted with her."

"Why's that, Sir?" asked Tony.

"I now spend more time at home than in the office," said Denton with a chuckle, "although, actually, it's more time at the golf course than in the office. My handicap has gone down by two, you know, and at my age that's pretty good. Do you play golf?"

"No," said Gibbs flatly.

"You should," said Denton earnestly, "it's very relaxing. And it's good for making contacts."

"Yes, Sir," said Gibbs politely but disbelievingly, "I'll bear that in mind. Now, can you tell me what Mr Murchison's duties were?"

"He is … was … Becca's deputy. She arranges new pension and investment funds, negotiates with providers and drafts prospectuses. David assists … assisted … her with that and he was responsible for a lot of the accounting work and computerising the processes. As I said, we're a small firm so there's a lot of doubling up on duties."

"Ms Whitely said she'd found some extra records that Mr Murchison was keeping," said Gibbs, "We need to see those. And also to search his desk. We already have his computer."

"Yes, of course," said Denton, "I'll take you to the shared office. I'm not sure which other office Becca was talking about but there are a number of small ones along that corridor so, please, feel free to look in them."

Denton took Tony and Gibbs to the open plan office and showed them where David Murchison had sat.

"That's Becca's desk opposite," he said, pointing to a larger desk with various potted plants on it.

"Thank you," said Gibbs in a tone of dismissal.

As Denton turned away, Tony said, "one thing, Sir. David Murchison was supposed to be going to a meeting in DC. He went across town to collect the rental car. Do you know why he would have done that?"

"Did he?" asked Denton, "No, I'm afraid I don't know why. Perhaps they were busy? David is … was … very obliging. Perhaps he did it to be helpful? We have a close relationship with Able. They've just taken out a big pension plan with us. The owner, Alistair Beecham, has just bought a garden centre and he's transferred that staff pension fund to us as well. He's had a lot of meetings here so we got to know him. Now, is there anything else you need?"

Gibbs shook his head and Denton strode off, swinging an arm as he went as if he was practising his golf swing. Tony and Gibbs stood looking round the office until Gibbs nodded towards Murchison's desk,

"You take that one, DiNozzo. I'll take Becca's"

"You gonna search _her_ desk, Boss?" Gibbs' glare was the only answer, "of course you are," Tony continued, grateful that he didn't have to do it.

Murchison's desk was neat and uncluttered with a photo of his wife taking pride of place. There was a diary, a notepad with neat doodles and a heap of product brochures.

"Nothing obvious here, Boss," Tony announced.

Gibbs looked up, "Bag it. We'll bring it back with us."

"On it, Boss. You find anything over there?" Gibbs noticed that he appeared reluctant even to look at her desk.

"She likes plants," commented Gibbs.

"That's new," said Tony neutrally, "I'll go search the other offices."

Gibbs let him go and carried on searching the desk. Becca seemed to have a fondness for stationery and healthy snacks as well as potted plants but he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. He was still looking through the drawers when Tony came back,

"Found the desk, Boss," he said, "I'm dusting it for prints." Gibbs nodded. "Probably no point. We know Rebecca at least has touched it but there might be others."

"OK," said Gibbs, "I can't see anything here but we'll bring it all back with us. Get Abby and McGee to check."

Sometime later, Gibbs and Tony had finished their tasks.

"You going to talk to Tiffany?" asked Gibbs.

"What?" said Tony in a startled voice.

"I'm assuming that you weren't hitting on her in work time," said Gibbs sternly.

"What?" said Tony again.

"You were softening Tiff-ann-ee up so you could interrogate her. About the case," said Gibbs meaningfully.

"Oh. Yes, of course, Boss. That's what I was doing."

"Go on then."

Tony turned to go but then looked back, "Boss, I don't think it'll work for me to pump her about Rebecca." Gibbs stared at him and Tony continued, "I'm not exactly objective here, Boss."

Gibbs felt a moment of compassion even as he realised how much he missed having Tony's opinion on the reliability of a key witness. "All right," he said, "go and ask her about Murchison … and Denton. I'll follow up later."

"On it, Boss," and in a burst of generosity and trying to be reassuring, Tony added, "you can be charming when you want to be, you know." Gibbs just raised an eyebrow and Tony hurried out.

In the car on the way back to DC, Tony reported,

"Tiff said that Murchison was a bit boring. By the book and not much sense of humour. But I think that just meant that he didn't flirt with her. She wasn't real interested in him. I reckon she's got her eye on old man Denton so she's a bit put out that he's spending more time at the golf course than at work. Put a crimp in her plans."

Gibbs nodded in agreement, "she didn't have much to say about Becca. Says she runs a tight ship: things used to be more easy going before she turned up but she says she's fair. Tough, but fair. Don't think she likes her much but I reckon Tiffany's doesn't really like women much; especially attractive women." Gibbs hesitated before continuing, "And Becca is good looking, isn't she?"

Tony swallowed, "yes, she is. A real beauty. Always was."

"What the hell went wrong, DiNozzo?"

"It's in the past, Gibbs, gone. It doesn't matter now."

"It matters if it makes you feel ill to look at her, Tony."

"I won't have to look at her for much longer. This'll all be over soon and I won't have to see her ever again. Look, Boss, if you order me to, I'll tell you what happened. But I don't want to talk about it; please?"

"OK, DiNozzo, we'll leave it for now," Gibbs agreed although he felt an unfamiliar pang at the thought that DiNozzo had managed to keep such a big secret from him.

NCISNCIS

Tim and Abby were shocked when they saw the wedding photo. They had come to terms with the idea of Tony having been married but had somehow thought it would have been some fleeting, low key affair. The photo seemed to show a very formal wedding and, more importantly, that Tony had been very much in love. They were all used to Tony's practised, charming smiles. Occasionally they had seen him surprised into giving more genuine, softer smiles: his expression in the wedding photo was similar to those rarely glimpsed smiles and it radiated joy.

"Wow," said Abby, "I've never seen Tony look so … so … happy."

"I made him happy that day," said Becca wistfully, "I put the album in my bag last night when you took me back to my apartment. I haven't thought about them for years but somehow, seeing Ads yesterday made me want to remember how he looked at me once."

"Are there more wedding photos?" asked Tim.

"Yes, the album is full of them," said Becca, "would you like to see them?"

The temptation was irresistible. Tim and Abby both felt they shouldn't be looking but it was impossible to say no. Becca obligingly filled them in on who was who in the pictures so, for the first time, the pair saw pictures of Tony's frat brothers, his great uncle Clive and his cousin Petey. There was one face they recognised,

"Senior looks good," said Tim, pointing to a younger version of Tony's father. "Who's that he's standing next to?"

"Frances Mulholland. The next Mrs DiNozzo Senior. They got married soon afterwards."

"Are those real diamonds?" asked Abby in awe as she stared at the expensive looking necklace being worn by Senior's fiancée.

"Probably," said Becca, "she was very rich. She had great taste. Ads didn't care for her much but I don't think he liked the idea of his mom being replaced."

The rest of the morning passed with them all looking through the album and hearing the story of Tony and Becca's almost fairy-tale wedding. A plan began to unfold in Abby's mind.

NCISNCIS

Tony brought all the evidence from Criterion down to Abby's lab; he began to beat a hasty retreat but Abby called him back,

"It's OK, Tony, Becca's gone to the bathroom. I need to ask you a question." Tony looked suspicious and Abby hurried on, "about the evidence."

"OK, Abs, what is it?"

"Um," said Abby, playing for time, "um, why the potted plants?"

Tony shrugged, "ask Gibbs, he bagged them, not me."

"I'm not sure how to catalogue them," said Abby, "I can't put them in a bag, they'd die. But if I don't, the chain of evidence won't be maintained."

"I'm sure you'll work it out, Abs," said Tony, "the queen of forensics won't be stymied for long. Now, I've got to get back …"

"You brought my plants back?" came a voice behind him as Becca returned.

"You two need to talk," said Abby firmly as she slipped past both of them and closed the sliding door behind her. Tony hurried over to the door but, as he suspected, Abby had locked it from the other side. He glared at her through the glass.

"Why won't you talk to me, Ads?" asked Becca plaintively.

Tony turned to look at her, seeing Abby clasp her hands together hopefully as he did so.

"Why do you call me that?" he asked irritably.

"Ads? It's what I called you," said Becca.

"For about two weeks when we first met," said Tony, "then we agreed it was a stupid name and you stopped."

"Oh," said Becca, "I'd forgotten that. I guess I was just remembering those happy days. The days when you weren't so angry."

"Rebecca …" began Tony.

"You know, you're the only person who calls me Rebecca," said Becca, "I've missed that."

"Your grandmother called you Rebecca," Tony pointed out.

"She died," said Becca, "two years ago."

"Oh. I'm sorry," said Tony awkwardly, "I liked Henrietta."

"And she liked you too," said Becca softly, "Ad … so what should I call you now?"

"I don't want you to call me anything," said Tony with a return to anger, "I thought we'd agreed that everything was over. That we'd never see each other again."

"I didn't plan this," said Becca, "I didn't know you were a federal agent. I didn't expect to be taken into protective custody when I called the FBI. I didn't expect any of this to happen."

"You mean there was something you couldn't control?" said Tony, "that must be a strange experience for you."

"Why are you so angry with me?" asked Becca, "you didn't used to be like this."

Tony took a step towards her but then stopped, "and you're surprised?"

"Ads … Tony … Anthony … I know it was a difficult time for you. I know you struggled with everything that happened. But it was hard for me too. Perhaps we should have tried harder. Found a way through."

"Are you listening to yourself?" shouted Tony, "what do you mean, _we_ should have tried harder?" He turned and banged on the door, "let me out, Abby. Now!"

"You need to talk," said Abby, trying to feel encouraged that the couple were at least speaking even if she couldn't hear all that they were saying.

Tony banged again in desperation and then sighed with relief when he saw Gibbs, Ellie and McGee coming into the lab.

"What's going on here?" Gibbs demanded.

"Becca and Tony are talking," said Abby, "that's what they need to do."

"Let DiNozzo out. Now!" ordered Gibbs.

"But, Gibbs …"

"Now!"

Abby reluctantly released the door and it slid open. Tony burst through, white-faced with anger,

"Abby!"

"I was just trying to help. We saw the wedding photos. You looked so happy! You were meant to be together."

Tony took a deep breath, trying to remain in control, "Abby, you don't know what you're talking about."

"But …" began Abby.

"Enough!" said Tony, "I love you, Abby but you've gone too far this time. Stop trying to fix things."

"But …" tried Abby again.

"NO! I don't want to talk to you right now."

"Tony!"

"Boss, I'll be in the squad room," and he swept out of the lab. McGee hurried after him.

"I was just trying to help, Gibbs," said Abby pleadingly as she saw Gibbs' expression.

Gibbs raised a finger, "Abby! All I need is for you and McGee is to process the evidence. Stop trying to fix DiNozzo!" Abby opened her mouth but he raised the finger again, "that's all. Nothing more. Understood?"

Abby nodded miserably and Gibb sighed as he wondered how this case had got so out of control.

Tony was too angry to wait for the elevator but ran up the stairs hoping to work off his rage. He briefly wondered if he could go to the gym and hit a punch bag for a while. He had just sat down at his desk when McGee caught up with him.

"What's up, Tim?" he asked, "shouldn't you be in the lab with Abby?"

"Why did you do that?" asked Tim.

"Do what?"

"Shout at Abby. You know she means well."

"So you think it's OK to lock me in a room with someone?" demanded Tony.

"No. Perhaps she shouldn't have done that. But …"

"But what?"

"She just wants to make things better between you and Becca."

"Why? Why does she think that's a good idea?"

"We saw your wedding photos …"

"So she said. How did that happen?"

"Becca showed them to us. It was an accident. The album fell out of her bag. We couldn't help but see them."

Tony glared at Tim but managed to hold on to his temper, "so seeing the photos made Abby think Rebecca and I should talk? Why?"

"She … we … could see how happy you were. Like she was good for you. Until …"

"Until what?"

"Until it went wrong," faltered McGee.

"And you have a theory about why it went wrong, McKnowitall?"

"No, but … but Becca implied that there were other women … and …"

"And what?" said Tony who had gone white with anger again.

"And, well, we know what you're like. With women. You know."

Tony stood up. Although he and McGee were the same height he seemed to tower over the younger agent for a moment.

"McGee," said Tony very calmly, "have you ever known me to break a promise?"

"Well," said Tim as he tried to decide.

"Have I ever made a serious promise and not stuck to it?"

"No," said Tim honestly, "you haven't."

"I made a promise to Rebecca," said Tony, "in one of those big buildings. You know the ones, tall roofs, coloured windows and a pointy thing on top, what are they called? That's right, churches! I made a _promise_ in church, in front of my friends and family to the woman I loved. And you think I _broke_ that promise?"

"Tony!" said McGee pleadingly.

"Good to know that's what you think of me, Tim," said Tony bitterly. He picked up his backpack, "tell Gibbs I'm taking the rest of the day as personal time. I need to be alone."


	4. Chapter 4

Gibbs arrived in the squad room shortly after Tony had stalked out.

"Where's DiNozzo?" he demanded.

"Uh. Um. Er …" agonised Tim, "you see … uh … he … well, it's …"

"McGee!" roared Gibbs, "where is he?"

"He went home, Boss."

"OK," said Gibbs mildly.

In his anxiety about how Gibbs would react, Tim didn't notice that he hadn't exploded, "um, perhaps he had a headache? He didn't look well," he gabbled on in the hope of averting Gibbs' wrath from Tony.

"Not surprised," said Gibbs, "if I got headaches I'd have one right about now."

Tim stared, not sure if this was the equivalent of a joke. Emboldened by Gibbs' apparent calm, he said, "Boss, did you know that Tony had been married? What do you think happened between them?"

"What do I think happened between them, McGee?" said Gibbs stonily. Tim nodded. "I think it's none of my damn business, that's what I think!"

"Right, Boss. Of course, Boss."

"We've got a case to investigate, McGee. We do still have a case, don't we?"

"Yes, Boss. We do."

"So what have you found out?"

"We haven't finished going through the computers yet. And we haven't started on the evidence, you know, the plants and papers you brought back from Annandale. We still need to …"

"That's what you _haven't_ done. What _have_ you done?" asked Gibbs irritably.

"We finished going through Murchison's phones. Cell, desk and home," said McGee.

"And?" sighed Gibbs.

"Uh. Mostly routine calls. To clients, to other members of staff, to his wife. Ordered some flowers; phoned the utility company; spoke to his mom. There was something odd though."

"McGee, I'm thinking of sending you back to FLETC."

"Why, Boss?" said Tim worriedly.

"To learn how to report properly! What was odd?"

Tim took a breath to prevent himself from stammering and said, "He phoned the SEC whistle-blower line."

"What? When?"

Tim refrained from saying that his reporting would improve if he didn't get interrupted every time he paused for breath, "Four times. From the length of the calls, he hung up the first two times. The third one was a really short call and I guess he probably just listened to the intro and then hung up," he decided not to risk taking a breath and hurried on, "but the fourth one lasted five minutes."

"When were the calls?" asked Gibbs.

"They started a week ago. The long call was four days ago."

"Just before the crash," noted Gibbs.

"Do you think he had second thoughts about what he was doing? Decided to come clean?" asked McGee.

"Could be. But wouldn't it have been simpler just to tell someone at Criterion?"

"Then what?"

"Might not have been Murchison who was doing the fraud," said Gibbs, "he might have found out about it and called the whistle-blower line."

"We haven't actually found out for sure that there is any fraud," pointed out McGee, "just some big password protected files on his computer and the logs show some things have been deleted. All we really have are Becca's suspicions."

Gibbs nodded, "get on to the SEC. See if they can give you any details about Murchison's calls. If they object, tell them that Murchison is dead _and_ that Criterion are co-operating with our investigation."

"Yes, Boss. And what if that doesn't work?"

"Well, Tim, if that doesn't work, you'll have to _visit_ them, won't you?"

Part of Tim wanted immediately to embark on the challenge of hacking the SEC but the other, more sensible, part decided it would be simpler just to ask for the information.

Leaving Tim to his work, Gibbs returned to Abby's lab where he found a rather subdued lab tech.

"Abby," he said, "do you still need Ms Whitely's help to go through the computers?"

"No, Gibbs. I've got enough to be going on with. I might need Becca again later, though. To tell me passwords and stuff."

"OK. Ms Whitely, I'm going to move you to a conference room until Abby needs you again."

"Agent Gibbs," said Becca, "wouldn't it be simpler for me to return to my apartment? Abby could call me when she needs help."

Gibbs didn't reply but just walked out of the lab beckoning for her to follow. They got into the elevator together,

"Agent Gibbs, I'm aware that my presence has been … disruptive for your team. Surely it's safe now for me to return to work? It would make life easier for your team and I admit that I would welcome the chance to forget the last few days."

"Not gonna happen," said Gibbs, "we know that Murchison's crash wasn't accidental. We won't risk your safety."

"Thank you, Agent Gibbs but I can't help but wish I'd never called the FBI. There doesn't seem to be any money missing from Criterion accounts so perhaps David hadn't completed whatever he was planning?"

"Possibly," said Gibbs, deliberately not telling her about Murchison's phone calls, "but until we know for sure, you'll remain with us."

"I really would like to get back to normal, Agent Gibbs."

"Not an option, Ms Whitely," said Gibbs, for his part wishing again that he hadn't insisted on taking the case from the FBI, "Here's the conference room. You should be comfortable here. I'll post a security guard outside. Let him know if you need anything," and with that he ushered her in and then left.

NCISNCIS

"Boss," said Tim when Gibbs returned to the squad room, "SEC have confirmed that someone called from Criterion and spoke to them for about five minutes. He wouldn't give his name but said he was concerned about some of the investments for the pension funds."

"What did SEC do?"

"He said he'd call back later in the week when he'd gathered more information. He said there was a big investment due to be finalised and that would confirm or allay his suspicions."

"And I'm guessing he didn't call back."

"No. SEC had it flagged. If they hadn't heard anything in another ten days, they would have considered investigating but they didn't have much to go on. Apparently it's quite common for disgruntled employees to phone up just to make trouble."

"OK. Leave that for the moment. Tell me what came up when you did the background check on Becca."

"Apart from her being married to Tony?"

"Yes, apart from her being married to DiNozzo."

"Right. Actually, I got Bishop to finish it."

"Get her up here then," said Gibbs.

A few minutes later, Bishop stood in front of the plasma which showed a picture of Becca.

"Rebecca Henrietta Whitely. Born Aurora, Illinois. Honours degree in Accounting from Ohio State with a minor in Computer Studies. Father, Henry Whitely is head of Whitely, Davenport and Gillespie in Aurora. It's a law firm. Mother, Ann Whitely is also a lawyer. Er … married once … to …"

"We know that bit," said Gibbs, "work history?"

"She's worked pretty continuously," said Bishop, "started off at a Peoria firm of accountants. Wasn't there long. Moved to a firm in New York. Tended only to work at places about two years before moving on."

"Any problems?" asked Gibbs.

"Nothing obvious. She seems to have been well liked at all the companies. She was let go a couple of times but she wasn't the only person laid off. On the whole she moved to better jobs and employers were sad to see her go. Joined Criterion five months ago and seemed to be doing well."

"No problems at any of the companies after she'd gone?" asked Gibbs.

"You mean problems she might have caused?" asked Ellie. Gibbs nodded. "No," said Bishop, "I wasn't looking for that but as far as I can see she worked for reputable companies which are still going today."

"Are we looking at Becca as a _suspect_?" asked Tim, "she was the one who alerted the FBI."

"I know," said Gibbs, "no, I don't see how she can have done anything. Has Abby finished checking the stuff we brought back from Criterion?"

"Don't know, Boss," said Tim, wondering if Gibbs thought he was psychic.

"Let's go see," said Gibbs. Tim and Ellie followed him down to the lab.

"Abby, those plants. Can you see where they came from?" asked Gibbs.

"You mean country of origin?" asked Abby.

"No," said Gibbs.

"Because I could totally find out for you if you wanted to know," said Abby enthusiastically, "I have this really cool database which I could use."

"Later, perhaps," said Gibbs, "The plants look new; can you see where they were bought from?"

Abby looked at the labels on the pots, "Able Garden Centre," she announced, "why does that matter?"

"Cooper Denton mentioned they'd just done a big pensions deal with Able. He said that the owner, Alistair Beecham had had meetings at Criterion."

"Boss?" asked McGee.

"Abby, anything hinky about the plants?" asked Gibbs, ignoring Tim for the moment.

"Hinky?" said Abby, "how?"

"Don't know. Does anything look odd about them?"

Abby peered at the potted plants. "There are some holes in the soil. As if something used to be stuck in them," she said, "I can do some analysis to try and work out what it was."

"Do that," ordered Gibbs, "someone might have hidden something in those pots."

"Like what?" asked Tim.

"One of those flash drive gizmos or a memory chip," said Gibbs vaguely, "you know."

"I see," said Tim excitedly, "might explain why we haven't been able to find any files. They could be stored on an external device."

"The plants were on Becca's desk," said Abby anxiously, "does that mean you think she had something to do with it?"

"May be," said Gibbs, "but putting it in someone else's houseplant would be a good diversion. Bishop, with me. I want to talk to Ms Whitely."

NCISNCIS

"Ms Whitely," said Gibbs, "those plants on your desk?"

"What about them?" asked Becca.

"Agent DiNozzo didn't seem to think you were interested in potted plants. But you have a lot of them on your desk."

"A lot of things have changed since I last saw Agent DiNozzo," said Becca stiffly.

"So you like plants now?" asked Ellie.

"No, not really," smiled Becca, "but Abs … Alistair used to bring them in for me when he was having his meetings with David about moving the pension funds over. I accepted them to be polite. I don't really care for them. David took one home and I moved an orchid on to Tiffany's desk. Why are you interested in them?"

"Did Mr Murchison take any unusual interest in them?" asked Ellie.

"Not that I noticed," said Becca, "They were just plants. Alistair likes plants, I don't especially. You can probably tell if you look at the ones you brought back with you. They need watering but David and Alistair were always telling me not to water them too much so I stopped. Why? What does it matter?"

"It probably doesn't," said Ellie with a smile. She looked at Gibbs who nodded to signify that the interview was over.

Outside the room, Ellie said,

"If Beecham and Murchison were hiding things in the pots, they wouldn't want Becca to be watering them, would they?"

"No," agreed Gibbs.

"And Beecham would be in a perfect position to sabotage Murchison's car," said Ellie, "he might have decided to double-cross him."

"Or he suspected that he'd got cold feet," said Gibbs, "and took drastic action."

"That makes sense," said Bishop, "and if the files or password or something essential was stored on something in the plants, he probably thought he could just come in and extract it without anyone noticing. He could pretend to be looking after the plants."

"Or he's already done it," said Gibbs, "Abby found holes in the soil."

At that moment, Becca came out of the room,

"Um, Agent Gibbs, as you're interested in the plants, I thought I should tell you …"

"What?"

"I used the phone in the conference room just now, to call Abs … Alistair."

"What?" asked Gibbs.

"The phone was working," said Becca reasonably, "so I thought it would be OK. Do you want me to pay for the call?"

"No," said Gibbs cursing that he hadn't checked that the phone was disconnected. "Why did you call him?"

"He's an important client," said Becca, "I wanted him to know that we were still acting in his best interests. Communication is very important, you know."

"OK," said Gibbs, "so what did you talk to him about?"

"It was just a social call. But I mentioned that I wasn't in the office at the moment and he was concerned."

"Why?" asked Ellie.

"It meant that Tiffany would be looking after the plants. And shall we say that she's not exactly reliable? He became very anxious."

"About house plants?" said Gibbs incredulously.

"They are very important to him, Agent Gibbs. He may have started out in cars but his real passion is plants. He only entrusts them to people he cares about."

"I see. Thank you, Ms Whitely," said Gibbs. "Come on, Bishop. Let's see if Abby has come up with anything.

Abby was still poring over the plants. "There's definitely some sort of indentation," she said, "sort of cylindrical. I waiting for major mass spec to come back with an analysis of the soil."

"Abby, have you still got access to the security cameras at Criterion?" asked McGee. He turned to Gibbs, "Becca gave us the passwords so we can watch the cameras in reception and in the client rooms," he explained, "it's not quite real time but it's recorded on their servers …"

"Get on it," said Gibbs, "see if there's anyone nosing around the houseplants."

"Hmm," said McGee, after a few minutes, "the cameras aren't pointing to Becca's or Murchison's desk."

"What about reception?" asked Ellie, "Becca said she moved an orchid to Tiffany's desk."

"On it," said McGee tapping a few keys, "oh," he said, "look at that!"

They all leaned in to watch and saw a tall, bespectacled man enter the reception area rather furtively. Tiffany wasn't at her desk. He looked around and then, seeing that the coast was clear, grabbed the orchid and hurried out of the office.

"When did this happen?" asked Gibbs.

"About an hour ago," Tim replied.

"Tim," said Gibbs, "go get Ms Whitely."

Tim hurried off and soon returned with Becca.

"Ms Whitely," said Gibbs pointing to the screen, "Can you identify that man?"

"Yes," said Becca, "that's Alistair Beecham."

"Thank you. Bishop, take Ms Whitely back to the conference room." As soon as they were gone, he continued,

"McGee, when Bishop gets back you two go and see Mr Beecham. Bring him back for questioning."

Abby smiled with relief. "Looks as if Becca is innocent after all. We should have known. Tony would never have married a crook." She turned back happily to her examination of the soil.

NCISNCIS

Tony passed a sleepless night, tossing and turning as he relived the conversations of the day and those from years long past. He eventually fell asleep and was woken by his alarm a couple of hours later. Oddly, the brief sleep seemed to have cleared his mind and he realised what he needed to do. Unsurprisingly, Gibbs was already in the office when Tony arrived,

"Morning, Boss. Uh, sorry about yesterday. I just needed to get away," said Tony.

"Not a problem," said Gibbs, "you got the hours on the book. Might as well use them."

"Oh. Thanks, Boss. Um, about the case …"

"Had a breakthrough there," said Gibbs, "turns out that Murchison called the SEC whistle-blower line. We think that he either decided to come clean or he knew who was committing the fraud."

"Murchison called the SEC?"

"Yes. He was either working with, or suspected, Alistair Beecham, the owner of Able Cars."

"So it was him who cut the brake lines?"

"Makes sense. We think Beecham hid flash drives or memory chips in one of those houseplants. Contained the data he needed to complete the fraud."

"So he was defrauding his own pension scheme?" asked Tony.

"Looks like it. We caught him on the Criterion video surveillance camera. Stealing an orchid off Tiffany's desk. McGee and Bishop went to bring him back but couldn't find him. Company says he's off on some sort of plant search. We've put out a BOLO for him. This should all be over soon."

"How did you know about the chippy things being hidden in the pots?" asked Tony.

"Abby saw these long holes in the soil," said Gibbs.

"Uh, Boss. Those might be for …" Tony began but Gibbs carried on over him.

"We're pretty sure that Becca is in the clear. So, she should be out of our hair soon."

"Good," said Tony in relief.

"What were you going to say about the case, DiNozzo?" said Gibbs as he remembered Tony's words when he first came in.

"Don't think it matters now, Boss. Looks like you got a pretty good handle on it now. I'd thought there was something you should know, about Rebecca. You know how sometimes everything falls into place and you see the missing piece?" Gibbs nodded. "Well, I thought I had one of those this morning but I must have been wrong. Like I said, it's been difficult to be objective on this one. But I'm glad I was wrong."

Gibbs nodded once again and took a sip of his coffee, hoping that his team was about to get back to normal but still aware of a sense of unease.


	5. Chapter 5

The Annandale police called later that morning to advise that they had detained Alistair Beecham.

"Where was he?" asked Gibbs.

"He said he was on his way to open up the car rental office," came the reply.

"Right," said Gibbs, "hold him there. We'll come and pick him up," and he put the phone down. "Bishop, McGee, Annandale police have Beecham in custody; go and get him."

"Where did they find him?" asked McGee.

"He can't have got far if the Annandale police caught him," observed Bishop.

"On his way to Able Cars," said Gibbs, "we'll know more when you bring him back." Ellie and Tim took the hint and hurried off.

"Wasn't exactly making the great escape, was he, Boss?" observed Tony. Gibbs just humphed in reply and Tony returned to an enquiry he was making with a sense of foreboding.

It wasn't long before Alistair Beecham was sitting in an interview room waiting for the Gibbs treatment to be applied. Ellie and Tony watched from Observation.

"He doesn't look like a master criminal," mused Tony.

"No," agreed Ellie, "he looks honestly shocked at being arrested."

"Appearances can be deceptive," said Tony, "Gibbs will find out what he was up to."

"Mr Beecham," began Gibbs, "do you know why you've been brought here?"

"No," said Beecham, twisting his hands together nervously, "you know, I should be opening up the office. There will be people arriving to collect their rentals. I'm letting them down. Is this going to take long?"

"It'll take as long as it needs to," said Gibbs sternly.

"Is this you?" asked McGee, showing Beecham a still of him snatching the orchid from Criterion.

Beecham flushed red, "Yes, it is."

"Why were you stealing a plant from Criterion?" asked Gibbs.

"You brought me here to ask me about stealing an Odontoglossum?" said Beecham incredulously, "I thought you investigated the Navy?"

"Answer the question," said McGee.

"I wasn't actually stealing it," said Beecham.

"Sure looks like it," said Gibbs.

"I gave it to Becca Whitely," he replied, "so really I was just taking it back. I realised she didn't really care for it if she gave it to Tiffany."

"Go on," said Gibbs.

"Tiffany used to work for us. At Able Cars," said Beecham, "so I knew she wouldn't be looking after it. And orchids are tricky plants. I didn't like to think of her killing it."

"So you decided to steal it back?" said Tim sceptically.

"I wouldn't use the word 'steal'," said Beecham, "I'd rather think of it as 'rescuing'. Why are you interested in it?"

"Where's the plant now?" asked Gibbs.

"In my house. In my greenhouse. It needs some care and attention."

"What did you hide in the plants you gave to Criterion?" asked Gibbs.

"Hide? Nothing. What are you talking about?"

"I understand that you've been in negotiation with Criterion to move your pension funds to them," said Gibbs.

"That's right. David Murchison and Becca have been very helpful. The transfer goes through today."

"Mr Beecham," said Gibbs, leaning forward slightly, "we believe that you were intending to commit a fraud with your pension funds. Were you working with Murchison to do that?"

"What! Yes, I was working with David. Like I said, he was very helpful but we weren't defrauding anyone."

"And we believe," said McGee, "that when you cut the brakes on Murchison's car leading to his crash."

"What?" said Beecham again, "Why would I do that?"

"Murchison contacted the SEC to say there was a fraud in progress at Criterion," said Gibbs, "at the moment we don't know whether that's because he was involved from the beginning and got cold feet or whether he uncovered your fraud."

"This is ridiculous," said Beecham, beginning to panic, "I think I need to see a lawyer."

In Observation, Tony said, "he's either innocent or one hell of an actor."

"I suppose actors can be crooks as well," said Ellie doubtfully.

Back in interrogation, Gibbs was continuing to press Beecham,

"You had the opportunity to damage the rental car. The plants look suspicious."

"How can plants look suspicious?" asked Beecham in desperation.

McGee produced some more pictures, "they all have these indentations in," he said, "we believe that you, or Murchison, placed some sort of electronic device in them which stored information you needed to complete the deception."

"And you told Ms Whitely not to water the plants," added Gibbs, "because that would damage your devices."

Beecham wiped his forehead, "Becca is even worse that Tiffany at looking after plants! She kept on watering them. In the end David and I decided it was better if he took over their care: we just wanted to save the plants not protect some electronic device! You've got to believe me!"

"And the indentations?" said Gibbs, beginning to get a bad feeling about them.

Beecham looked more closely, "they look like the holes where fertiliser spikes go in. You know, the little plugs you put in pots to keep the soil healthy." Gibbs and McGee looked at each other in puzzlement. Beecham took advantage of the pause to say, "And anyway, why on earth would I need to work with someone to defraud the pension scheme? I already had control of it. If I wanted to steal from it, I would have done it before now. Why make it more complicated?"

"We'll be back," said Gibbs, standing and gesturing to McGee to follow him out.

Bishop and Tony were waiting for them outside.

"Has Abby finished her soil analysis?" asked Gibbs.

"I'll go and find out," said Bishop.

"He seemed pretty genuine," said Tony.

"Yes," said Gibbs, "he did, didn't him?"

Bishop was soon back, "Abby just got the results back. As far as she can see there is a build-up of nitrogen in the area round the holes."

"Which means?" asked Tony.

"Fertiliser," said Gibbs and McGee together.

"I was right then," said Tony absentmindedly.

"What?" demanded Gibbs.

"Oh. That's what I started to say when you told me about the holes," said Tony, "one of my neighbours looks after the plants in our lobby. I saw her poking these grey spikes into the pots, she told me what they were."

"Why didn't you say so?" said Gibbs.

"I tried," protested Tony.

"Try harder next time," said Gibbs crossly.

"Do you think he's off the hook?" asked Tim.

"Possibly," said Gibbs, "but it still looks as if the brake lines were cut at his office. So he's not in the clear yet."

"Who's Tiffany?" asked Bishop.

"The rather luscious receptionist at Criterion," said Tony, "although I didn't know that she used to work at Able Cars as well."

"You mean you weren't focussing on her job history?" teased McGee, "was there something else which you were interested in?"

Tony grinned in acknowledgement, "Yes, it was her future rather than her past that I wanted to know about."

"DiNozzo, go in and ask Beecham about how he got involved with Criterion. There's still something going on with that pension fund."

"How do you know?" asked Bishop.

Tim and Tony looked at each other and said in unison, "his gut!"

Tony decided it would be a good change of tactic to be kind and understanding with Beecham after Gibbs' sternness.

"Mr Beecham, my name is Agent DiNozzo. Thank you for your help so far. I wonder if you could give some information about how you chose Criterion for your pension fund?"

"Does that mean you don't think I killed David? Or swindled my company?" said Beecham suspiciously.

"The information you give us will help us determine that," said Tony smoothly. "Now, by the way, where were you yesterday? We tried to contact you but we couldn't find you."

"I was visiting another garden centre," said Beecham, "they've been experimenting with a new rose hybrid and I was interested in seeing their results. I like flowers," he added earnestly.

"I see," said Tony, making a note in his pad, "and Criterion? Why did you choose them?"

"Through Tiffany, I guess," said Beecham. "She lives next door to me. I've been friends with her family for years. That's how she came to work for me. She had this idea that she wanted to be a car mechanic and I agreed to take her on." He laughed.

"What's funny?" asked Tony.

"It was so unlikely! I mean, she was good at it. Picked it up quickly but she hated wearing coveralls, getting grease on her hands, breaking her nails! She didn't last long."

"And then she went to Criterion?"

"She worked in the office for a while but it wasn't really where her ambitions were, if you know what I mean?"

"No, I'm afraid I don't. Explain."

"Tiff is after a man, Agent DiNozzo. I think she decided she was more likely to meet an eligible, and wealthy, man at an investment company than at Able Cars. I guess if we rented out Porsches and Aston Martins she might have stayed with us, but we don't, we just go for family saloons and sedans."

"I see."

"So, Tiff went off to Criterion. I mentioned to her father that I was looking for a new company to manage the pension funds. I've just bought a garden centre and it was getting to be too much work to look after the pensions for both companies. Tiff suggested Criterion. They've got a good reputation and I know Cooper Denton; we play golf together sometimes. So it seemed a good idea."

"And you worked with David Murchison?"

"Yes. And with Becca. I mean Ms Whitely," Beecham blushed.

"And you got on well with her?" asked Tony.

"Oh. Yes. She was really helpful. We got quite friendly. She even gave me a nickname."

"Did she?" said Tony neutrally.

"Yes. She called me 'Abs'. The two initials of my name with a …"

"Yes. I understand," said Tony suppressing a grimace.

"I've never had anyone give me a nickname before," said Beecham shyly, "women don't usually notice me, you see. Unless they like plants, of course."

"Right," said Tony, deciding not to enquire further. "I understand that Criterion booked the rental car the day before they needed it?"

"That's right," said Beecham.

"And they said they would come and collect it?"

"Yes."

"Is that unusual? I mean, for them to collect it rather than you deliver it?"

"I don't know. I guess it is."

"You would normally deliver it?"

"Yes, of course."

"Did they say why they wanted to pick it up themselves?"

"We were going to deliver it," said Beecham, "in fact I was going to take it myself." He giggled shyly, "It would be an excuse to see Becca. And it meant I could check on the plants."

"But you didn't?"

"No. I remember now. Tiffany came in. She said that David was going to be on our side of the town and he'd come in and collect it."

"Anything else?"

"I don't think so. Oh, wait …"

"What?"

"She'd bought him a sandwich. To eat on the journey. She asked me to point out which car we'd reserved for him."

"I see."

"I thought that was nice of her. I didn't think he was her type."

"What type is that?"

"He was married, Agent DiNozzo. Not really Tiff's type."

"Thank you, Mr Beecham. That's been most helpful."

Tony left the interview room and went into Observation where the others were waiting.

"Tiffany?" he said, "what do you think, Boss?"

"Sounds as if she would have known enough about cars to fix the brake lines," said Gibbs. "And she had the opportunity."

"So Tiffany was the fraudster?" asked Ellie, "and Murchison found out?"

"Would she have had the skill?" asked Tony.

"She would have had access to the computers," said Tim, "she might have been able to."

"Bishop. Do a background on Tiffany. See if there's anything to show she was capable of doing it."

"Yes, Gibbs."

"Are we letting Beecham go, Boss?" asked Tony.

"Take a statement about what happened on the day of the car rental," said Gibbs, "and then let him go. Then go see Ducky; find out if he's got the results of the post mortem on Murchison."

NCISNCIS

"Ms Whitely," said Agent Gibbs, "what can you tell me about Tiffany Marcos?"

"Tiffany? Our receptionist?"

"Yes,"

"What do you want to know?"

"How long has she worked for Criterion?"

"About a year, I think. She was there before me."

"A good worker?"

Becca hesitated. "She's very young. What my grandmother would have called 'flighty'. She can work well enough when she puts her mind to it but she's easily distracted. She tends to wander round the office a lot. She's the gossip queen! Why do you want to know about her?"

Gibbs ignored the question, "does she have computer skills?"

Becca thought, "Not really. I mean she can do the basics: spreadsheets, documents, diary management, recording of expenses. But nothing more than that."

"I see."

"Agent Gibbs, why do you want to know all this? Tiffany's just a young woman who's OK at her job."

Gibbs decided to tell her and try to gauge her reaction, "we think Tiffany may have been the one to sabotage David Murchison's car." Becca went white. "She was at Able Cars on the morning of the accident and she asked which car they had been allocated. And she told them that Murchison would collect the car himself and they didn't need to deliver it."

"She told us that Able had called to say they couldn't deliver the car. I thought it would be a way of gaining time so I sent David to collect the car. I told him I had something to do before I could go to the meeting with him so he needed to go on his own. That's when I phoned the FBI."

"And he didn't come back?"

"No. I waited but he didn't return. But why would Tiffany have cut the brake lines? She barely spoke to David. Why would she want to hurt him?"

"David Murchison had contacted the SEC to alert them that he thought some fraud was in the offing at Criterion," said Gibbs.

"D-David thought something was up? As well as me?" asked Becca.

"It seems so. We believe that it was Tiffany who was planning some sort of fraud."

A look of incredulity passed over Becca's face and it was a moment or two before she spoke, "that seems so unlikely. But, she is into everything. I guess she could watch over people's shoulders to find out passwords. And she knows what's going on. But how would she know that David had contacted the SEC?"

Gibbs shrugged, "Murchison made the calls on his official phone. Did you say that Tiffany manages the expenses?"

"Yes. How would that help?"

"She might see a list of calls made. Spot that he'd been calling the whistle-blower line. Decided to act quickly."

"It seems so extraordinary."

"I've sent Agents Bishop and McGee to arrest Tiffany," said Gibbs. "One more question."

"Yes?" said Becca faintly.

"Did Tiffany know that you called the FBI?"

"I don't think so. No. I remember, she was out of the office on an errand. Oh, that must have been when she was at Ables. And I made the call from my private cell; she wouldn't have had access to it."

"And did she know that you were going to the meeting with Murchison?"

"I don't know. I don't remember her being around when I told David I'd be going with him."

"Good," said Gibbs, "that means that she wasn't targeting you as well when she cut the brakes."

"Does that mean that I can leave now, Agent Gibbs? I'm not in danger. And I really do have a lot of work to catch up on." Gibbs hesitated. "I promise not to go anywhere without notifying you!"

"All right," said Gibbs, "but we need to keep hold of your laptop for the moment. And don't talk to anyone at Criterion about this for the moment."

NCISNCIS

"Ducky," said Tony as he entered Autopsy.

"Anthony! What can I do for you?"

"Gibbs wants to know if you've got the results of the autopsy on Murchison."

"Indeed. It doesn't show anything unexpected. The injuries were consistent with an automobile crash. It seems he may have been unlucky …"

"How so? You mean, apart from being in a car with cut brake lines?"

"Quite so. It seems that he was accelerating to overtake another vehicle when another one approached him. He slammed on the brakes but, because they failed, he was unable to avoid the other car. With the results you already know. In other circumstances a brake failure on a flat road might not have resulted in such a severe accident."

"Oh. OK, thanks, Ducky," Tony turned to go.

"Anthony," said Ducky.

"Yes?"

"I just wanted to say that I understand that you are going through a difficult time at the moment."

"You don't want all the gory details? Or to tell me it's all my fault and I should be trying harder or should have done something different all those years ago?" said Tony bitterly.

"No," said Ducky calmly, "I should be honoured if you should decide to confide in me but my intent was simply to offer you my support. As a friend."

Tony swallowed, "I'm sorry, Ducky. Guess I'm a bit jumpy at the moment. Didn't mean to jump on you."

"I understand, Anthony. Now, have you time to have a cup of tea with an old friend?"

"Because a cup of tea cures everything?" joked Tony.

"Well, I would say that it is efficacious for many things but I really meant that perhaps you would enjoy a moment or two of peace and quiet."

"Thank you, Ducky. Yes, that would be great."

"Then sit down, dear boy, and I will prepare the brew."

Tony sat down at Ducky's desk and watched the doctor make the tea. He found it oddly soothing to watch the meticulous preparations and he felt some of the tensions of the last couple of days melt away. They sat drinking for a few moments until finally Tony said,

"Rebecca being here has brought back a lot of memories."

"Bad ones?" asked Ducky gently.

"Not all of them. Great ones to start with but they're sort of wiped out by what happened at the end."

"You can tell me about them if you think it would help," said Ducky.

"It's difficult, Ducky. I mean the memories are painful. And …"

"And?"

"And, looking back, I'm embarrassed by what happened."

* * *

 _AN: congratulations to wytygr for guessing the innocent source of the indentations!_


	6. Chapter 6

_Some answers at last!_

* * *

"Why don't you start from the beginning?" suggested Ducky.

"Do you believe in love at first sight, Ducky?" asked Tony.

"Well," said Ducky, taking the breath that usually signified the arrival of a personal anecdote. He paused, took another breath as he realised this was not the time for a story, and said, "I know many people do."

"I don't," said Tony, "but I think I believe in love at second sight! Rebecca and I hit it off almost immediately and her then boyfriend was soon shown the door. I would get this warm, happy feeling whenever I saw her. She'd walk into a room and I couldn't help but smile; she just made me happy. Even when she turned up here, my first reaction was to feel warm and happy. And then I just go cold when I remember."

Ducky murmured something both comforting and encouraging.

"We got engaged in our final year. Planned to get married once we'd graduated. Rebecca and her mom spent months planning the wedding."

"I think many brides enjoy the planning," commented Ducky.

"And then I blew out my knee," said Tony. "The plan up to then had been for me to play pro basketball. I was good, you know."

"I'm sure you were, Anthony."

"But once the knee was gone, that was it. Might have managed it but I'd already broken my leg – one accident too many."

"College sports can be very physical."

"So I had to rethink what to do. And I decided that I wanted to join the police. I think the thought had been there ever since I did that thing with Jason."

"Ah, the seeds had been sown."

"Guess so."

"And how did Rebecca react to that?" asked Ducky.

"She was great. Very supportive but I think she'd been looking forward to the life of a pro sportsman's wife. Could have been glamorous."

"Indeed, so I understand." Ducky poured them both another mug of tea.

"So I applied to various police forces. Got accepted for six."

"Six?"

"Hey, I was a college graduate who was in great physical shape," said Tony a bit defensively.

"I wasn't being sceptical, Anthony," said Ducky reassuringly, "I am sure that they all saw you as an asset."

"I was thinking of accepting New York but Rebecca decided she wanted to go to Illinois. That's where she's from and she got offered a job with a company in Peoria."

"Ah, yes," said Ducky, "Abby mentioned that she'd got a job in Peoria. _That it helped pay the bills_."

Tony laughed ironically, "It was a _great_ job. She said it was her dream job and she earned more than I did. We went to Peoria because she wanted to."

"And did you mind?"

"No. I'd have done anything for her and besides, she'd had to adapt to a change because I'd couldn't go into professional sports; it was only fair."

"So what happened next?"

"We moved to Peoria. I went to police academy. I guess I was away a bit with the training but everything still seemed fine. And then we got married," a soft smile appeared on Tony's face. "For a while I thought that was the best day of my life," he continued, "the sun shone, our friends were all there, Senior turned up and best of all I still got that warm happy feeling whenever I saw Rebecca. That never wore off. I had a fulfilling job which I thought I was going to be good at and I had just got married to the woman I loved."

"You were right about being good at the job," said Ducky.

"And then it fell apart," said Tony bleakly, "and I can't quite work out why."

"What happened?" asked Ducky, "if you don't mind telling me."

"The first thing was that, during our training, another rookie got into difficulty when we were doing lifesaving. She needed saving herself. And I did mouth-to-mouth on her."

"Very commendable."

"You'd think so, wouldn't you? But Rebecca went mad when I told her. Accused me of doing it unnecessarily."

"I don't understand," said Ducky.

"She said I should have left it to someone else to do. That I didn't need to do mouth-to-mouth. That it was all an excuse to kiss this woman."

"Oh, my."

"So I explained to her that she was wrong. Insisted that I would never look at another woman. The training supervisor told her that it had all been a genuine accident and that I had had no choice but to rescue her. That I hadn't done anything inappropriate."

"And did she accept your explanation?"

"Eventually. After I'd grovelled for days and bought her a present."

"I see. And had she been jealous before?"

"No. And I'd had plenty of women throw themselves at me at OSU. And she'd never been bothered by it. In fact she seemed to quite like the way that I ignored them all."

"So something changed when you were married?"

"I thought so. But now, I wonder."

"Wonder what?"

"Looking back, I think it was sort of artificial. An act."

"What do you mean?" asked Ducky.

"I don't think she was jealous; she knew she had no reason to be. She was going through the motions and I think she enjoyed the attention. Everyone running round trying to reassure her. Made her the centre of attention."

"And did she continue to be jealous? Or act as if she was?"

"I made sure not to give her any excuse. Didn't socialise with any of the other recruits and tried not to talk too much about work. Focussed on how _her_ job was going."

"And did that work?"

"Not so you'd notice. She accused me of keeping secrets. Of being jealous of her for having a dynamic well paid job. She said I was trying to control her by wanting to know every aspect of her job."

"And what did you do next?"

"I tried to get her interested in my job. Told her about what I was doing. Introduced her to people on the force."

"And did that work?" asked Ducky.

"No, she accused me of making her feel shallow for not having a 'worthwhile' job. Said that my friends were laughing at her behind her back."

"Oh, dear," said Ducky, feeling inadequate.

"I didn't know what to do," said Tony, "I thought about asking her family but I knew she'd be furious if she found out. Then I suggested that perhaps we should try some sort of couple counselling."

"And I'm guessing that suggestion didn't meet with approbation?"

"That's an understatement! It was the first time she walked out."

"But she came back?"

"Eventually. After I'd grovelled again and bought another present. And it just seemed to happen over and over again. But I kept at it. I was sure that we could get through it … whatever 'it' was if we could only face it together."

"But it didn't work?"

"No. I was held up at work one day. Well, you know, police work. And she was used to that by then. But she decided that meant that I'd left her. That I didn't care. And so she walked out for the last time."

"And did you pursue her?" asked Ducky.

Tony looked embarrassed, "No. I was exhausted. I didn't know what to do. And for a few hours I just decided to let her go."

"And then?"

"And then I went to her parents in Aurora and tried to see her."

"And?"

"And she wouldn't see me. Said if I'd really cared I'd have been there hours earlier. That she wanted a divorce."

"I'm so sorry," said Ducky, "do you think she had some sort of psychiatric disorder?"

"I don't know, Ducky. I don't think so. I think it was all calculated; that she thought she would like living in Peoria, being married to a policeman and, in the end, found it all too dull. That I turned out to be boring. Nobody had ever called me boring before!"

"And so you got a divorce?"

Tony laughed again, "nope. She decided she didn't want a divorce. Didn't want the stigma."

"Stigma?" asked Ducky.

Tony shrugged, "I know. Anyway, she decided that she wanted an annulment because that way she could pretend that it had never happened. She, _we_ , could scrub it all out. Go back to the way it was before she had the misfortune to meet me."

"And what grounds did she have for an annulment?"

"I don't know. I was numb from it all. All her relatives seem to be lawyers and they cooked something up. There was this fiendish new lawyer who had just joined her father's firm: Marla her name was. She made it her mission in life to grind me down. And she did a good job. I just wanted it all to be over so I let them get on with it. You know what I think?"

"What do you think, Anthony?"

"I think she loved the wedding day so much that she wanted to do it again. Having an annulment rather than a divorce would make that easier. When she lost her temper with me once she said that she'd only gone through with the marriage because she wanted her big day."

"Do you think that's true?"

"I don't know what to think, Ducky. But at least an annulment meant that I've been able to complete forms with single as my marital status rather than divorced. Made it easier to keep it secret."

Ducky frowned, "I'm honoured that you have confided in me, Anthony. And it is all a very sad story. But why do you feel the need to keep it a secret?"

"It's not something to advertise, Ducky."

"Yes, I understand that it is not something which you would wish to broadcast too much. But, regrettably, marriage break up among couples as young as you were, is not uncommon. I don't believe you needed to keep it so much of a secret."

Tony shifted uncomfortably, "I guess you're right, Ducky but it's not really the breakup which is the embarrassing bit. It was painful, and like Senior, I don't like to advertise my mistakes but I could have lived with it. It was what happened afterwards that I didn't want people to know about."

"Ah," said Ducky, "and what was that?"

Tony took a deep breath, "I will tell you, Ducky. But you're right, I shouldn't keep this a secret any more. I need to talk to Gibbs."

NCISNCIS

Gibbs and Bishop sat opposite Tiffany in the interview room. She had come with Ellie and McGee without protest although she seemed rather offended that they had come to arrest her. She sat, batting her eyelashes at Gibbs as if that was going to help her cause. Gibbs could see that Alistair Beecham had been right in his assessment of her as being 'after a man'. Unfortunately for Tiffany, her technique was flawed. Gibbs decided to go straight for the kill.

"We believe you were responsible for cutting the brake-lines on David Murchison's car."

Tiffany tried to look bored. Gibbs showed her the pictures of the wrecked car. And stared at her. Tiffany's eyes filled with tears.

"Tears don't work on me," said Gibbs tersely.

Tiff stared at him speculatively and made a decision. It was the quickest Ellie had seen a suspect cave under the Gibbs scrutiny.

"I didn't think it would kill him," she said defensively, "he was the slowest driver ever. I was unlucky."

" _You_ were unlucky?" asked Ellie.

Tiff delicately wiped her eyes so as not to disturb her eye makeup. "Hey, I made sure Becca didn't get hurt. That must count for something?"

"What do you mean?" asked Gibbs.

"I heard her saying that she'd go to the meeting in DC with David."

"And?" asked Gibbs.

"Well, I didn't want her to be in the car when it went wrong. So I phoned David and told her that she'd changed her mind. That he should go on his own. So, really you should be grateful to me. That I only killed one person. Though I didn't mean to kill him," she added hastily, "It was an accident."

"We'll come to that later. So, you found out that David Murchison had phoned the SEC?" continued Gibbs.

Tiff nodded, "I'd printed out the list of phone calls so that I could check the expenses. It's something that Becca introduced. She likes to be sure that nobody is making private calls on company time. I didn't recognise that phone number so I looked it up."

"And you didn't want the SEC to be investigating?" said Ellie.

"No," agreed Tiff.

"So you knew that Murchison had found out about your fraud?" continued Ellie.

"My what?" asked Tiff.

Ellie and Gibbs looked at each other in puzzlement, Tiff looked honestly surprised.

"You were planning to defraud Criterion," said Gibbs, "and David Murchison found out. You cut his brake-lines in a bid to stop him giving details to the authorities."

"No, I didn't," said Tiff. "Yes. I cut the brake-lines. But that was just to slow him down a bit."

Gibbs stared at her, reserving judgement.

"But I wasn't planning no fraud," continued Tiff ungrammatically.

"Then why did you want to stop Murchison from whistle-blowing?" asked Gibbs.

"Do you care that much about the company?" asked Ellie.

"Criterion?" said Tiff scornfully, "it's even more boring than Ables. Everyone's boring. I wasn't go to stay much longer."

"So why stop David Murchison?" asked Gibbs again.

"And what were you going to do? If you weren't going to stay there much longer? Have you got another job to go to?" asked Ellie.

"I wasn't going to need no job," said Tiff.

"Why not?" asked Gibbs.

"Because I was gonna have a load of cash."

"From where?" said Ellie.

Tiff sighed, "Blackmail."

"Blackmail?" said Gibbs, "who were you going to blackmail?"

Tiff fidgeted, "the person who _was_ doing the fraud."

"You knew someone was planning a fraud?" asked Ellie.

"Yes."

"How?" asked Gibbs.

"David was always nosing around. He thought I didn't notice. But I did. I see everything. He made lots of notes and he looked worried all the time. He put notes in a special cabinet. But I found them."

"You understood them?" asked Ellie. She was surprised as so far she and McGee hadn't been able to decipher them.

"No," said Tiff, "but I didn't need to."

"Why not?" said Gibbs.

"Because I knew who he was hiding them from."

"Who was that?" asked Gibbs. His cell rang before Tiff could answer. He held up a finger to delay her reply, "Gibbs," he said, irritated at being interrupted.

"Boss," said Tony.

"What? I'm in interrogation."

"Oops, sorry, Boss. This might be nothing but …"

"Spit it out, DiNozzo."

"I think we need to speak to Rebecca again."

"She's not here."

"Where is she?"

"On her way back to Criterion, I guess. Why?"

"Like I said, it might not be anything. But I think we need to call Cooper Denton."

"Why?"

"To tell him to change his password. At once."

"Get on to him," ordered Gibbs, deciding not to ask why. Then get a car ready. Time to go to Criterion." He snapped the phone shut.

"So," he said turning to Tiff and asking the question to which he feared he knew the answer, "who was David Murchison hiding his notes from?"

"Becca. She was the one he thought was planning a fraud."


	7. Chapter 7

"Can't get hold of Denton," complained Tony, as he and Gibbs hastened towards the car, "apparently it's one of his golf days and he doesn't take a cell with him when he's playing."

"Probably why his handicap's improved so much," said Gibbs drily. "You want to tell me why we need to change Denton's password?" asked Gibbs.

"That's the fraud," said Tony, "you heard Cooper Denton; he's come to rely on Rebecca so much that he's spending most of his time on the golf course. What you want to bet that he's given her his passwords so she can access all the company's accounts when he's not there?"

"Don't those type of accounts usually need at least two people authorising access?" asked Gibbs, before answering his own question, "and Becca is the other person with access."

Tony nodded. "Beecham said the transfer of his pension funds goes through today. A whole lot of money is going to be going into Criterion accounts."

"And straight back out again," said Gibbs grimly. He paused to remember how Tony had reacted to Becca's presence earlier in the week, "you going to be all right with this, DiNozzo?"

Tony grimaced, "can't keep on hiding from her, Boss. But it might be a good idea to bring Bishop and McGee along. Don't particularly want to drive back with her."

Gibbs nodded and took his cell out, "McGee. Get someone in Balboa's team to watch over Tiffany. Then get a car. You and Bishop are coming to Annandale as well."

"Hey, Boss. Tell McGee to bring his laptop," said Tony just before Gibbs ended the call. Gibbs nodded and passed on the instruction.

"What makes you think that's what Becca's fraud is?" asked Gibbs.

"I looked at the background that Bishop ran on Rebecca. Something struck me."

"What? It looked clear," said Gibbs, "didn't stay in one place very long. But _you_ know what that's like. Doesn't always mean there's something going on."

"Thanks, Boss," said Tony with a wry smile, "yes, I'm the last person to judge someone for having a chequered job history. But it seemed a bit odd that Becca should move around so much. Like Ellie found out, she seemed to do well at each firm and she could have done even better if she stuck around. And then I remembered. She was at Wyatt Lincoln in New York. The chief accountant, Wade Pratchett, is an old friend of Senior's and I remember Senior mentioning that the chairman of the board had resigned unexpectedly. He wasn't suspected of anything criminal but he just went."

"So?"

"And I looked at a couple of the other firms that she left. Mostly New York ones and guess what? Senior executives at both companies resigned suddenly a couple of months after she left. So I phoned Wade Pratchett and managed to get him to tell me what had happened."

"And?"

"Large amounts of money had been removed from a corporate account which could only be accessed by the chairman of the board and AN Other. Wade wouldn't tell me who the AN Other was but he did tell me that they didn't suspect the chairman of taking the money but that he'd shared his password with another member of staff. He was hugely embarrassed and refused to say who he'd shared it with. He made up the loss himself and resigned."

"Might be coincidence," said Gibbs.

"Could be," agreed Tony, "although you have a rule against that. So I spoke to a financial journalist I know from OSU. Asked him about another of Rebecca's firms and he said that the gossip was that someone high up had been indiscreet and let someone have access to accounts they shouldn't have. Same thing: very embarrassed, wanted to hush it up and didn't want customers to know their money had been compromised. Loss made good. Senior man took early retirement. And then Beecham told me about his nickname."

"What about it?" asked Gibbs."

"Rebecca called him ABs. Same sort of nickname she gave me. I used to think Rebecca had all sorts of good qualities but originality was never one of them. She got something in her head and she stuck with it. Occurred to me that perhaps she'd had a good scheme with all those firms and was doing the same at Criterion. Guess she'd gone through as many of the New York firms as she could. Eventually the word would have gone round."

"Why didn't any of these companies do something?" asked Gibbs.

"Reputation is _the_ thing with financial companies," Tony pointed out, "scandal will scare off potential investors and could cause the firm to crash. And also the obvious thing …"

"Which is?"

"They were embarrassed to have been so stupid. You know why I never spoke about being married to Rebecca? It wasn't just that it was a painful memory. Although it was."

"What was the other reason?"

"I was embarrassed. Not just about being divorced … sorry, annulled. But what she did to me."

"What was that?" asked Gibbs.

"'Nother time, Boss. Let's just say that when I realised how many secrets we keep when we're embarrassed I knew how Rebecca could be getting away with things."

"So why did you want to get Cooper Denton to change his password?"

"So that Rebecca won't be able to access the accounts."

"We'll just have to get there quickly," said Gibbs, "we've still got her laptop. I guess she'll have to go into the office to get into the accounts."

"There may be another way," said Tony and he got his cell out, "McGee!"

"Yes?"

"Can you access Criterion's accounts from your laptop?"

"I can see the accounts. I can't get into any of them. They're all password protected," replied McGee.

"Do you know the logons?" asked Tony.

"Yes. Becca gave me a list. But that doesn't mean I can get in to the accounts."

"I know. I need you to change a password. On Becca's account."

"I can't do that, Tony. I'd need to know the original password."

"I can guess the password," said Tony confidently.

"How?" said McGee sceptically.

"I was married to the woman," said Tony, "I know how her mind works."

"If you knew that then why did you get divorced?" asked McGee.

"Not the time, McGee," said Tony curtly, "just do it."

"OK," said McGee, "but this is a bad idea. OK. I've brought her logon information up."

"Right," said Tony, "type in ohiostateacc."

"Tony?" asked McGee.

"Relax, McFidget, that's what she used as her password when I first knew her. She's a creature of habit. Just do it."

"Logon unsuccessful," said McGee.

"Right," said Tony, "try this, henriettawhit. That was her other favourite."

"Logon unsuccessful," said McGee again, "there's only one more go."

"OK," said Tony, "third time's the charm. Let's see: puddlewick."

"Puddlewick?" asked McGee.

"Her first pet. Angora rabbit with pink eyes. The first time she cried was when old puddles died."

"Tony. Are you sure?" said McGee.

"Do it," ordered Gibbs.

"Yes, Boss," said McGee reluctantly.

NCISNCIS

Tony and Gibbs split up when they got to Criterion. Gibbs went to the big shared office while Tony went to the small side room where he had found Murchison's notes. Becca was sitting looking at a computer screen.

"Rebecca."

She jumped slightly but recovered quickly and smiled at him, "Tony. What are you doing here?"

"Time to stop hiding, Rebecca," he replied.

"I wasn't hiding," she protested.

"Not you, me. I've spent enough time avoiding you."

"I knew you still cared," she said softly.

"Yeah. I guess I do in some way," said Tony, "otherwise it wouldn't hurt so much to see you."

"You know that I loved you," said Becca, "still would if you'd let me."

"Do you believe that?" asked Tony, "do you really think that this is all my fault?"

"I try not to think in terms of blame," said Becca solemnly, "it's the best way of letting the pain go."

Tony laughed, "You're good, you know."

"I try to be," said Becca.

"It wasn't meant as a compliment," said Tony, "it was a comment on how self-centred you are. You were never good at picking up on sarcasm."

"Which was a problem," said Becca showing a flash of temper for the first time, "when it's second nature to you!"

"There's the Rebecca I know and … used to love," said Tony.

"What are you doing here, Tony? You see, I remember you don't like to be called ADs. I've got work to do."

"I'm sure you have. We spoke to Alistair Beecham, you know. ABs. You're getting predictable."

"Agent Gibbs told me. He said that Tiff cut the brakes on poor David's car."

"Yes. Mr Denton doesn't seem to make good recruitment choices."

"No, I guess not. Still, it's all over now. You didn't need to come all this way to tell me. But, thank you." She turned back to her computer.

"Like I said, you're good but you're not quite up to date on the employee news."

Becca sighed, and turned back, "go on," she said, "I can see you won't go until you've bored me to death."

Tony clasped a hand to his heart in mock pain, "you wound me. The lovely Tiff cracked at the first glare from Leroy Jethro Gibbs."

"I found Agent Gibbs to be charming. And all your team."

"Yes, they're good."

"And very interested in you. Seems you've been keeping lots of secrets from them."

"And you used that, didn't you?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"I think you do. All that subtle distraction. My team would normally have got through all the computer evidence in a matter of hours but they found themselves spending time looking through our wedding photos and listening to stories of our marriage."

"I've missed talking about that time," said Becca, "it was comforting. But I'm sorry if it annoys you." She looked at him with innocent eyes and Tony found himself almost softening.

"That look doesn't work on me anymore," he said as convincingly as he could but, from Becca's knowing gaze, it wasn't convincing enough. "Was calling Beecham about the orchid part of your plan as well?" he asked.

"What?"

"You knew he'd come and 'rescue' it and we'd think it was suspicious. Another delaying tactic."

"I don't know what you mean. ABs is a client. It's good business sense to talk to him."

"It backfired."

"I still don't what you mean."

" _ABs_ put us on to Tiff. We hadn't really thought of her having the brains to be a fraudster."

"I still don't see how she could have been," said Becca.

"Ah, that's the bit you don't know," said Tony.

"What?" said Becca with a little sigh of impatience.

"She wasn't going to be defrauding the company."

"I told you so."

"Your favourite words," commented Tony, "they bring back so many memories."

"If you're just going to keep on bringing up the past, I think you should go," said Becca.

"Oh, it's not the past I'm interested in," said Tony, "it's the future."

"You think we have one?" asked Becca.

"I think I have. Not with you, of course. And you've got a future, not one quite as nice as your present. But hey, you can't have everything."

"Go on," said Becca wearily, "say what you've come to say."

"Tiff wasn't going to rob the company. She was going to blackmail the person who _was_ going to."

"And who was that?"

"She found out that David Murchison had called the SEC whistle-blower line. She saw the number on his call list. And I'm guessing that's how you found out too. I can just imagine you poring over a list of numbers like that. Micromanagement is almost your middle name."

"That's ridiculous. It was me who called the FBI to say that I thought there was a fraud going on."

"And that was clever," acknowledged Tony, "I mean, who would suspect the whistle-blower of being the crook. I'm guessing you decided to stick like glue to Murchison after that. But Tiff did you a favour when she cut those brake lines."

"That had nothing to do with me," said Becca. "I'm not a violent person."

"Not physically violent," agreed Tony, "mental cruelty is more your line."

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Becca. "You were always too sensitive."

"Not what I'm known for," said Tony.

"No," said Becca thoughtfully, "that's the impression I got from your co-workers. They had lots of stories."

"Nice try," said Tony, "but they wouldn't tell stories about me."

A smile crossed Becca's face but she simply said, "OK. If that's the way you want it. Now, just go, Tony. You've been _brave_ and faced me. You can go."

"Not so fast," said Tony, "there's the little matter of your fraud."

"If you had proof, you'd have arrested me," said Becca confidently, "all you've got is the statement of a deluded girl who's got the IQ of a ten year old."

"We've looked at your work record," said Tony, "all those jobs. Restless, were you?"

"I was building up a wide range of experience," said Becca, "not like you. Just sticking to police work. And ending up working for an agency nobody's ever heard of. And you haven't exactly reached dizzy heights even there, have you? Were people mean to you, poor lamb?"

Tony ignored the insults, "and, odd how many senior executives felt the need to resign soon after you'd left their firms. I guess you knew they'd be too embarrassed to shop you. Good plan."

"I still don't know what you're talking about," said Becca in a bored voice, "I wasn't dismissed or disciplined at any of those places. My work record is perfect. Why don't you just scuttle back to your nice little office? You've finally managed to stand up to me. Congratulations. You can add it to your other wins. If only you had any trophies, you could add this to them."

Tony's lips thinned as he tried to hold on to his temper but he knew that Becca was trying to provoke him enough that he would leave: that had usually been what he had done when faced with her unreasonableness. "We've got evidence of your _latest_ fraud," he said.

"Don't lie," she said.

"I don't lie," said Tony. "McGee might have been distracted by your feminine wiles but he's on the ball now. Even as he drove down here, he was digging into your finances. Very interesting. Looks as if you've got an account under the name Henrietta Whitely that the IRS doesn't know about."

"You going to report me for tax evasion?" scoffed Becca, "not exactly what the Navy cops are meant to investigate, is it?"

"We're always ready to make an exception," said Tony generously. "But, no, that's not what we're going to arrest you for. McGee can see that you've been accessing Criterion's accounts."

"That's what I supposed to do," said Becca, "it's my job."

"And moving money into mysterious accounts," said Tony, "and using Cooper Denton's logons."

"You can't prove that was me."

"The accounts were accessed on days when Denton wasn't in the office. And very late at night. And, of course, you're logged on using his account now."

"How do you know that? I'm logged on to do my own work."

"Don't think so," said Tony, "in fact I know so."

"How?"

"Because your logon isn't working."

"How do you know that?" said Becca who looked worried for the first time.

"Because your logon is suspended. Oops, I tried to guess your password but got it wrong. So, you can't have got into your account. You introduced new protocols to prevent it being too easy to get a password reset: you really didn't want anyone to be careless about things like that, did you?"

Becca slammed her hands down on her desk in frustration and anger, "you always have to spoil everything, don't you? Do you know how _boring_ it was to live with you? Always wanting to _help_ people. Just because you saved that little boy, doesn't make you a hero, you know. It wasn't going to make people _like_ you! Once people met your slimy father, they knew what you were really like. Like father, like son. You might have tried to fool people that you were different but everyone knew that you're shallow and worthless. No wonder your team laugh at you behind your back!"

Tony stood there, clenching his fists and trying not to react but wishing that Gibbs and the rest of the team weren't listening in through his earwig. He thought it was probably time for them to make their entry.

"Say something!" screamed Becca, "don't give me that pathetic hurt look!" She searched round for something to throw and picked up a letter opener. She ran towards him but at that moment Gibbs decided to make his presence known and came up behind her and grabbed the knife.

"I'm sorry, Agent Gibbs," she said breathlessly, "Tony and I were having an argument. Just like the old days," she laughed, "we always were a bit fiery."

"McGee, check that computer. See if Ms Whitely was logged in using Denton's logon," ordered Gibbs.

McGee leaned over the screen, "yes, Boss. She tried to use her own logon, has sent an email to IT support requesting a password reset but it hasn't been done yet. She's logged in to the account where Able's pension funds have just been deposited and it looks as if she's set up a transfer from that account into …"

"Into what?" asked Gibbs.

"An account in Nevis. Under the name of Rebecca DiNozzo," said McGee, "Sorry, Tony."

"Rebecca Whitely, you're under arrest for fraud," said Gibbs taking some satisfaction in putting the cuffs on her although she had regained her composure and managed to look bored and disdainful.

In a moment of compassion Gibbs ordered McGee to travel back to DC with him and Becca while Bishop and Tony returned together. Bishop drove and, apart from a quick 'sorry', maintained a tactful silence. Indeed, she mused, she would hardly know what to say."

A couple of hours later, the team had reassembled in the squad room. Tony sat wearily at his desk reliving his conversation with Becca which had brought back so many unhappy memories. He was still trying to work out where it had all gone wrong and whether it had been his fault.

"Go home," ordered Gibbs, "all of you. There'll be work to do tomorrow but the SEC will take over some of it. Go on."

As they all stood to leave, McGee reached for a note of humour to lighten the mood, "Guess we should have known," he said.

"Known what?" asked Tony.

"Like you say, _always suspect the wife"_ , he said.

It was lucky for McGee that Gibbs was standing close by and had lightning fast reflexes. It meant that he was able to catch Tony just before he lunged at Tim's throat.

* * *

 _AN: thank you to Binkeybella for reminding me of Tony's catchphrase._


	8. Chapter 8

"What's going on here?" asked the Director making one of his well-timed arrivals.

"Nothing," said Gibbs, "just the end of a long day and a difficult case."

"Problems in your team, Gibbs?" asked Vance.

"No, Leon. Nothing I can't handle," replied Gibbs.

"Make sure of that," said Vance casting a stern look at both Tim and Tony before continuing on his way.

"Thought I told you all to go home," said Gibbs sternly. Tony and Tim hesitated, unsure whether they were being dismissed as well. "You still here?" asked Gibbs. Tim shook his head and hurriedly gathered his gear and left. Tony stood his ground until Gibbs glared at him and then he turned to go with a slump to his shoulders. Gibbs watched him go, wishing he'd found the words to help him but deciding that it was safer not to risk saying the wrong thing. He hoped that a night's rest would calm everyone's nerves.

NCISNCIS

Tony was at his desk early the next day although he didn't look as if he'd had the good night's rest Gibbs had hoped for. Tim came in shortly afterwards carrying a cappuccino and a breakfast burrito.

"Peace offering," he said, as he placed the food and drink on Tony's desk. "Tony, I'm sorry about yesterday. I wasn't trying to be a jerk. I was just trying to …"

"That's OK, McTactless," said Tony with a particularly dazzling smile, "I know."

"But, Tony, I …"

"Save it, Tim," said Tony wearily, "I guess I deserved it. I'm sorry I nearly slugged you."

"But …" Tim tried again.

"Water under the bridge," said Tony, "forget it."

"I would never …" continued Tim.

"Leave it, McGee," ordered Gibbs as he walked to his desk. "You two OK?" he asked.

"Never better, Boss," beamed Tony.

Gibbs doubted Tony's sincerity but, for the moment, decided to take his words at face value. He resolved to speak to Tony later about what had happened.

"SEC investigators are here with someone from the FBI," said Tony, "Bishop's bringing them down to Rebecca."

"Good," said Gibbs, "spoke to them yesterday evening. SEC is going to work with the FBI on this. She'll be charged and then probably be released on bail."

"Released?" said Tim.

"She's not regarded as dangerous," said Tony, "jails are too crowded already. No need to add a white-collar criminal suspect to their number."

"We'll concentrate on Murchison's murder," said Gibbs, "we've still got jurisdiction as he was ex-Navy and in the reserves. DiNozzo, go down and see Abby. See if she's got anything more on the crash."

"Tiffany confessed," pointed out Tony.

"I want some physical evidence," said Gibbs, "in case she retracts the confession."

"On it, Boss," said Tony although he felt a slight reluctance at going to see Abby for the first time since she'd locked him in her lab with Becca.

"Tony!" said Abby when he arrived. Her arms twitched as she instinctively wanted to hug Tony but didn't think he'd welcome it.

"Abs. Gibbs sent me down to see if you've got any evidence to link Tiff to cutting the brakes."

"I'm looking at the security footage again," she said, "and looking for finger prints on the car."

"Let us know if you find anything," said Tony getting ready to leave.

"Tony!" said Abby with a hint of a wail, "wait. Don't go!"

"What you want, Abby?"

"I'm sorry that Becca turned out to be a crook."

"Are you? Why?"

"Well, I liked her. Although, looking back I guess she was a bit hinky. But she seemed nice at first."

"OK. Well, thanks for sharing."

"And I'm sorry because you were married to her. And you must be sad that you found out that she's … well … not a nice person."

"Abby, I knew that a long time ago," said Tony.

"But you must have thought she was nice once," said Abby.

"Once," agreed Tony.

"So, what went wrong?" asked Abby, "something must have happened."

"You think _I_ did something to make it go wrong?"

"No, no. No, I didn't mean that. But I don't understand why you never told us about her."

"But you tell us everything about your dates?" said Tony, "Because I seem to remember you keeping some secrets."

"That's different," insisted Abby.

"Why? Because everyone's allowed to have secrets except me?"

"No! I meant it was different because you were _married._ And you never said. I thought we were friends."

"I thought we were too, Abs. But friends respect their friends' privacy."

"Tony," gasped Abby, "do you know how nosy you would have been if you'd found out one of us was married?"

"I do know that. But I also know that if I'd seen how uncomfortable you were about it, that I would have backed off. That I would have tried to be supportive."

"But I tried," protested Abby.

"Locking me in a room with a woman who I clearly loathed? Insisting that we should talk it out? That was being supportive? Gee. Thanks, Abby; I didn't realise that's what you were doing."

"I was just trying to help," said Abby close to tears.

"No," said Tony wearily, "you were trying to get one of your fairy tale happy endings. Newsflash, Abby, life isn't like that."

"I'm really sorry," said Abby with tears now flowing, "please don't hate me."

"Like I told you once," said Tony, "I could never hate you. And I don't now. But please, don't try and fix me." He drew her into a hug and then kissed her cheek, "let me know about the brake lines," he said before walking away trying to take solace from having soothed Abby's hurt. It was bad luck, he supposed, that he bumped into the SEC and FBI agents as they escorted Becca from the building.

"Hello, Tony," she said.

Tony carried on walking.

"You still can't bear to look at me," Rebecca called after him, "I'm not surprised. After all that you did to me when we were married. You should be ashamed of yourself. Using your strength on someone weaker than you. On someone who was terrified of you! You couldn't bear it when I tried to live my own life, to escape from your control!"

Tony stopped. He wanted to carry on walking, to get away from the poisonous words being directed at him but his feet wouldn't obey him.

"Don't be a coward!" shouted Becca, "turn round and look what you've done to me. You ruined my life. I wish I'd never met you."

Those words echoed with those of Jeanne and, for different reasons, were equally unfair to Tony. The injustice jolted him into speech and he turned round,

"I ruined _your_ life?" he demanded, "You left me _nothing!_ You _destroyed_ me!" He took a hasty step towards her but then felt a hand on his arm.

"Leave her, DiNozzo," said Gibbs. "Let it be."

Tony found himself breathing heavily and he slumped against the wall in reaction to the encounter with Becca.

"Go see Ducky," Gibbs ordered.

"Why?" asked Tony, "I'm fine."

"Go see Ducky," repeated Gibbs, "have a cup of tea or whatever it is that you do with him." Tony looked at him doubtfully. "Go on," said Gibbs giving him a slight shove. Tony managed a half-hearted smile and obeyed.

Gibbs returned to the squad room, relieved that Becca had left the building and, he hoped, their lives. Bishop and McGee were working diligently and quietly and he sat down gratefully. An hour or so later his desk phone rang.

"Gibbs."

"Ah, Jethro. I have been having a conversation with Anthony," came Ducky's placid voice.

"That's why I sent him to you, Duck."

"I am rather concerned about him."

"Yeah?"

"Yes. He is exhausted. I don't believe he has slept since the beginning of Ms Whitely's unfortunate sojourn with us. The whole episode has brought back distressing memories for him."

"He tell you about them?"

"Er, yes, he has. In confidence, you understand."

"OK," said Gibbs, aware of a feeling of disappointment that Tony had chosen to confide in Ducky rather than in him.

"I have recommended that he take a couple of days off."

"OK," said Gibbs, "I'll fill out the request form."

"He feels the need to be alone, Jethro. From what I gather, he feels that some of his co-workers have been less than sympathetic to his situation."

"Yeah," said Gibbs directing a glare at Tim.

"I understand he has had to console Abigail who became distraught when she was trying to explain why she had behaved as she did. He thinks, and I agree, that it would be better not to see any of your team until he has achieved a sense of equilibrium. He has enough to do to come to terms with the emotions of the last few days without also having to deal with the feelings of Timothy and Abigail."

"Understood. I'll tell them not to turn up at his apartment."

Ducky coughed, "Ahem. He won't be at his apartment, Jethro."

"Where will he be?"

"I'm not at liberty to tell you. He doesn't want to see you either, I fear."

Gibbs put the phone down and looked up to see Ellie and Tim staring across at him.

"DiNozzo's taking a couple days," he announced. "Don't try and contact him. Needs some down time."

Bishop and McGee looked unhappy at the order but nodded in understanding.

NCISNCIS

Shortly after Gibbs got to work the next morning he was surprised to see Agent Fornell coming out of the elevator.

"Tobias? What you doing here?" he asked.

Fornell grimaced, "Where's DiNotso?" he asked.

"Taking a couple of days off," said Gibbs uneasily, "why do you want to know?"

"I hear Becca Whitely turned out to be his ex-wife," said Fornell.

"Yes. So what?"

"I understand that their reunion wasn't exactly sweetness and light."

"We arrested her on suspicion of fraud," said Gibbs, "doesn't exactly make for a happy reunion."

"At least _we_ never did that with our ex-wife," said Fornell.

"What you want, Tobias?"

"Becca Whitely was released on bail yesterday. FBI drove her back to her apartment in Annandale and left her there. Late last night they got a frantic phone call from her saying that someone was trying to break in."

"What did they do?"

"Sent the local police round. They found the door open, blood on the floor and no sign of Whitely. It looked as if there'd been a struggle."

"What's this got to do with DiNozzo?"

"Just before the phone went dead, they heard her shout _Tony._ They found a scrap of suit fabric; looked expensive, from a designer suit."

"Sounds circumstantial," said Gibbs.

"Our agents said there was an altercation between Whitely and DiNotso yesterday. That she accused him of being violent towards her and said she was scared of him."

"She didn't say any of that before," said Gibbs.

"They also said that you had to restrain him from attacking her."

"That's an exaggeration," said Gibbs, "he just moved towards her."

"And the near assault on McGee? That you had to stop?"

"Rumour mill has been busy," commented Gibbs. "It was nothing, just reaction at the end of a long day. You can't think DiNozzo attacked Becca?"

"I don't want to believe it, Jethro, but it doesn't look good for him. I need to find him. Talk to him. Where is he?"

"I don't know," said Gibbs.

"You can do better than that, Gibbs," said Fornell.

"Ducky told him to take some time off. Wouldn't tell me where he'd gone. Said he needed time away from us."

"We need to find him, Jethro," said Tobias, "and we need to find Becca Whitely. Your boy is in trouble."


	9. Chapter 9

Gibbs' first action was to call Tony's cell but it went straight to voice mail. McGee and Bishop arrived at that moment,

"McGee! Trace DiNozzo's cell!" ordered Gibbs.

"Boss?" asked McGee, "why?" He saw the look on Gibbs' face and hastily added, "On it, Boss." A couple of minutes later he said, "I think it's turned off. Last call was from his apartment. Early yesterday, probably before he came to work."

In the meantime, Gibbs was calling Ducky's phone in Autopsy but he got no reply. "Going to see Ducky," he announced. Fornell, uninvited, trailed after him.

"What's going on?" asked Bishop.

"What's Agent Fornell doing here?" asked Tim at the same time.

Gibbs swept into Autopsy but found only Palmer. "Where's Ducky?" he demanded.

Jimmy was never at his best with Gibbs and the early morning encounter was especially unnerving.

"Er, good morning," he said, "and hello, I mean, good morning, Agent Fornell. Um. Yes. Dr Mallard is working from home this morning." He encountered Fornell's raised eyebrow, "I mean, he's not _working_ from home. Well, of course, he is working but he's not doing an autopsy from home. That would be gross. And probably illegal. Or, if not illegal, it would probably be difficult to make stand up in court. And blood, and other bodily fluids, would be difficult to get out of the carpet. Although Dr Mallard is a very tidy worker and I don't want to imply that he would spill any blood, he's really most meticulous. So … where was I?" he trailed off.

Agent Fornell took pity on him and managed to speak before Gibbs exploded, "you were explaining where Dr Mallard is."

"Oh, yes. Thank you, Agent Fornell. Yes, Dr Mallard is working from home. But I already told you that. Yes. He's catching up on some paperwork. Not autopsies. But I already said that too."

Gibbs grunted and, taking his phone out, called Ducky's cell. It rang but he got no answer.

"Dr Mallard specifically said he didn't want to be disturbed," said Jimmy, "unless it was an emergency."

"Give me your phone," ordered Gibbs holding out his hand.

"But … b-b-but … of course," said Palmer handing his cell to Gibbs.

Gibbs snatched it out of his hand but then looked bemused when he realised that Palmer had a smartphone. He scowled at it for a moment and then thrust it back at Jimmy. "Call Ducky!"

Jimmy knew that he should resist but also knew that this was impossible so he called his mentor.

"Mr Palmer," came Ducky's voice, "what have you done? What emergency has occurred?"

Gibbs had taken the cell back from Palmer so it was he who answered, "Need to know where DiNozzo is, Duck."

"Jethro," Ducky sounded annoyed, "I have already told you that Anthony should not be disturbed. He needs time away to marshal his thoughts … I …"

"Fornell is here," interrupted Gibbs, "and he wants to speak to DiNozzo."

"Jethro, while Fornell has not been involved in the team's interactions of the last few days, I doubt if Anthony will want to make an exception in his case."

"Rebecca Whitely has gone missing, Duck," said Jethro.

"And why should that be of interest to Anthony?" asked Ducky, "I hardly think that he would want to know where she is gone."

"It looks as if she may have been attacked and abducted," said Gibbs.

"Even so," began Ducky.

"A witness says she shouted out _Tony_ just before she was taken," said Gibbs.

"I see," said Ducky after a pause, "but even so, surely you don't suspect Anthony of assault?"

" _I_ don't," said Gibbs, "but the FBI might be tougher to persuade. So I need to know where he is."

"He is with me," said Ducky, "and has been since we left NCIS yesterday. And I can assure you that we have not taken a trip to Annandale to commit assault."

Fornell leaned into the phone, "we might need more than your word for that, Dr Mallard."

"Indeed. At what time did the alleged attack take place, may I ask?" said Ducky.

"19.30," said Fornell.

"Then I can advise you that you need to look elsewhere for a suspect," said Ducky.

"Duck?" asked Gibbs.

"Last night was my bridge night. Tom Hubbard, the city ME; Georgiana Metcalfe, professor of jurisprudence at Georgetown University and Vincente DaSilva, our local park attendant were my guests for the night. They will be happy to corroborate what I have said."

"They will need to have had DiNotso within sight the whole time," said Fornell.

Ducky chuckled, "that will not be a problem, Tobias. My guests foregathered at 18.30 for a light supper before we played. Anthony joined us for the meal. We had smoked salmon and a chilled cucumber soup to begin with, accompanied by a rather fine Cab …"

"Duck?" ordered Gibbs.

"Of course, my apologies," said Ducky, "you are not interested in the wines I supplied. Although, Jethro, it would not be amiss for you sometimes to imbibe something other than your preferred bourbon. Indeed, studies show …"

"Duck!"

"I shall make a point of printing out the article for you," said Ducky, "if you were not such a Luddite when it comes to matters of the computer …"

"Luddite?" queried Fornell, distracted despite himself.

"Ah, yes. Luddites. They were weavers of the nineteenth century in England who feared that mechanisation was going to destroy their livelihoods. They are believed to have resorted to violence in their protest and they attacked the machines that were taking their jobs. I was likening Jethro to those Luddites. I was about to say that I would have emailed him a link to the medical article if he had not been such a Luddite."

"Duck!" shouted Gibbs.

"After our repast," continued Ducky unperturbed, "Anthony expressed the wish to watch us play. It seems that his great uncle Clive was quite an enthusiast for the game and he remembered the rudiments. My fellow players were only too pleased to allow him to do so and, if time permitted, agreed to allow him to play a hand. Alas, it did not transpire so."

"Why not?" asked Fornell finding himself reluctantly charmed by this account of an evening in the Mallard residence.

"Our games are never brief," said Ducky regretfully, "our post hand analyses tend to be rather prolonged." Fornell and Palmer suppressed smiles while Gibbs simply scowled. "And, I fear that Anthony's viewing of the game did not last long. He fell asleep while we were playing the first hand and did not awaken until my guests were taking their leave. So, you will see, that there are three unimpeachable witnesses to Anthony being present all night."

"Thanks, Duck," said Gibbs. He looked as if he wished he could snap the cell shut to end the call but, realising he didn't know how to do that with Jimmy's cell, he settled for handing it back to him.

"Uh, Dr Mallard, it's me. Jimmy. I mean, Mr Palmer … I mean."

"Where is Agent Gibbs?" asked Ducky.

"Er. He's gone," said Jimmy simply as he watched the doors of Autopsy swish shut.

"Happy, Tobias?" asked Gibbs as they entered the elevator.

" _Happy_ , Jethro? Have you ever known me to be happy?" mused Fornell, "I sometimes think I'm constitutionally incapable of happiness. That's what Emily says anyway." Gibbs gave one of his expressive scowls and Fornell continued, "Yes, I'm happy that DiNotso didn't abduct Ms Whitely. Not unless Ducky's bridge partners are actually some sort of criminal gang. But I didn't ever really think that DiNotso was responsible."

"You could have said so," growled Gibbs.

"Come on, Jethro," said Fornell, "You know I had to check."

"We're going to investigate this with you," said Gibbs in a tone which brooked no argument.

Fornell shrugged philosophically. It was then that Gibbs realised that Fornell had come alone. "That's what you always intended," he said.

"Why waste my time investigating when you'd only do it too?" replied Fornell. "But I'm coming along."

By this time, they were back in the squad room.

"Grab your gear," ordered Gibbs, "we're going to Annandale. Report of an intrusion and possible abduction at Rebecca Whitely's place."

"Boss?" asked McGee.

"Agent Fornell here thought it might be down to DiNozzo," said Gibbs a little meanly.

"Agent Fornell?" said Bishop with a hint of reproach in her voice.

Fornell raised his hands in mock surrender, "it's all right. We know he didn't do it. He was sleeping through a game of bridge at the time."

Bishop frowned at that but Gibbs swept on. "Someone was trying to make it look as if DiNozzo abducted Becca."

"Who would want to do that?" asked Tim, "and who would want to abduct Becca?"

Gibbs stared at his team.

"I suppose someone else who Becca stole from?" suggested Ellie, "Tony seemed to think it had happened more than once."

"Or Becca is staging it," said Tim, "she was pretty mad at him."

"We won't assume," said Gibbs, "but Tim, check her accounts. All of them. See if there's any activity. Any signs she might have been making a run for it."

"We've got a BOLO out for her already," said Fornell, "I'll add alerts at train stations and sea and air ports."

NCISNCIS

Gibbs drove the MCRT truck to Annandale so it wasn't long before they were standing in Becca's apartment.

"Cool place," commented McGee, "looks a bit like Tony's apartment. Perhaps they did have something in common after all." He paused, realising this might be less than tactful, "not that Tony has criminal tendencies at all. Um. I'll check for fingerprints, Boss."

"You do that, McGee," said Gibbs. "Well, what you think, Bishop?"

Ellie gazed round, realising this was some sort of test. "Uh," she said, "well, I'd say that it looks a bit … staged?"

Gibbs nodded in approval. "Good work. Go and talk to the neighbours. See if they heard or saw anything."

Gibbs and Fornell searched the apartment. Nothing seemed to be missing; a jewellery box was sitting on a dresser with its contacts intact and an untouched purse was on the kitchen table.

"No photos," observed Fornell.

Gibbs nodded. The apartment was rather impersonal. It seemed uncharacteristic that she had preserved an album of wedding pictures. He opened a drawer and drew out a silver cup.

"Huh," he said.

"What's that?" asked Fornell.

Gibbs held it out to him.

" _To our beloved grandson Anthony. For his christening,"_ read Fornell, "this belonged to DiNotso?"

Gibbs shrugged, "guess so. Date looks about right." He slipped it into his pocket. Fornell looked at him in surprise but said nothing. "Come on," said Gibbs, "nothing else here."

Back at the squad room, Bishop confirmed that most of the neighbours had been out at the time of the alleged attack and had heard nothing. The other neighbour, an elderly and rather deaf lady, lived at the back of the block and hadn't seen anything as she'd been _watching her favourite TV_ _show with the volume turned up, dear._

The crime scene photos confirmed to Abby that the blood had been deliberately dropped rather than being the result of a wound. It was also clear that Abby's opinion of Becca had gone down even further.

"That b-b-b …" she had begun, "no," she said, "I'm not going to lower myself to say what I think of her. But she'd better not come into my lab again because she might not make it out alive again. How could she do this to Tony? He's such a sweet …" Gibbs interrupted her with a hug and then said, "Work with McGee and Bishop, Abs. We need to find her."

Abby pushed herself off Gibbs' chest with a look of steely resolve on her face. "She won't get away with this. Thinking she could frame our Tony …"

Gibbs backed away, leaving her muttering to herself.

Perhaps it would have been better for Becca if she had majored in computer science at OSU rather than in accountancy: as it was she was no match for the combined skills of Bishop, McGee and Abby. They soon found a couple of hidden bank accounts under an assumed name and were able to find that she had booked herself a ticket from DC to Nevis with stopovers in New York and San Juan. Tony would no doubt have been amused to know that the controlling Rebecca had been defeated by the weather; her flight was delayed by fog so she was still in the departure lounge when Gibbs, Bishop, McGee and Fornell arrived.

"Agent Gibbs," she said after a moment of surprise, "it's a relief to see you."

"It is?" he asked.

"Yes," she said, "you can keep me safe now. I've been so frightened."

"Yes?" asked Fornell.

"Yes," she said, trying to reach out and take him by the arm, "I told the FBI that I thought Tony was knocking my door down. I managed to get away but …"

"So you came to the airport to complete the getaway?" asked McGee.

She turned reproachful eyes on Tim, she wasn't used to hearing that harsh tone in his voice.

"I wasn't thinking clearly," she said breathlessly, "I just had to get away."

"Under an assumed name?" said Ellie, "and all the way to the Caribbean? Seems a bit drastic. Wouldn't it have been easier just to go to the police?"

"You're forgetting, Bishop," said Gibbs with mock sternness, "she had to go and collect all that money in Nevis. From that secret account. You're under arrest, Ms Whitely. Again."

The cuffs were once again put on Becca and she was led away just as it was announced that her flight had been given a time for take-off.

NCISNCIS

"Mallard," said Ducky as he answered the phone at his home.

"Duck. Is DiNozzo there?" asked Gibbs.

"Jethro," sighed Ducky, "I thought I'd made it clear that it is best that Anthony doesn't speak with you yet."

"Just wanted to let him know that we found Becca Whitely."

"Yes?"

"Yes. Trying to get to Nevis."

"On her own?"

"Yes."

"So she hadn't been abducted?" asked Ducky.

"No. It was all staged," said Gibbs.

"And she deliberately tried to implicate Anthony?"

"Seems so. Ironic really."

"And why is that?"

"FBI wouldn't have noticed that she was gone if she hadn't made that fuss. She could have slipped away quietly and nobody would have been any the wiser until they needed to take another statement from her."

"So her wish to cause Anthony more pain was her undoing," observed Ducky.

"Yes," said Gibbs.

"Good," said Ducky, terse for once.

"We found something in her apartment," said Gibbs, "something of DiNozzo's."

"Indeed? I don't think he wants any memories of their time together."

"Don't think was from then," said Gibbs, "it looks like something from when he was a kid."

"Really?" said Ducky in surprise. "I didn't think …"

"Think what, Duck?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all."

"Will you tell him, Duck?"

"Certainly. When I see him, I will tell him."

"What does that mean, Duck? Where is he?"

"The Director has agreed to a request for another week's leave," said Ducky.

"Where's he gone?"

"He's gone away with some _friends_ , Jethro."

Gibbs put the phone down, uneasy with Ducky's odd emphasis on the word _friends._ He tried to decide whether or not it was a good thing that he, and the team, now had a week to work out what to say to Tony when they saw him.

* * *

 _AN: I think this really is winding up now. Probably just one chapter to go!_


	10. Chapter 10

Tony slung his duffel bag into a corner of his bedroom with a contented sigh and with a wince at the pull of a muscle. He went to coo over the goldfish bowl.

"Hey guys, did you miss me?" he said as he dropped some flakes of food on the water surface, "did the girl down the hall look after you?" He didn't get any reply except for an eager grabbing at the food so, after a moment or two, he went to look at the mail which had accumulated in his absence. He was just beginning to think about putting his dirty laundry in the washing machine when there was a knock on his door.

"That was quick," he muttered before going to answer it. "McGee!" he said, "what were you doing? Tracking my cell?"

"No," said McGee, a little too quickly, "No. You're due back at work tomorrow. So I figured you'd be back sometime today. Back from wherever it is you've been. Which I don't know."

"Wow," commented Tony, "that's a lot of non-information in one go."

"Can I come in?" asked Tim.

"Why?" asked the normally sociable Tony, "got some insults stored up that can't wait till tomorrow?"

"I brought you some pork chops," said McGee.

"Why?"

"I remembered that you made me food when Delilah was hurt."

"I don't remember you being very grateful," observed Tony. "But, hey, you were under stress. I understand. And it's not like I'm known for my cooking skills."

Tim did his best to ignore this, "So I figured that food is something you think is good to bring in a crisis. So I thought I'd bring some."

"You think we're having a crisis?" asked Tony even as he waved Tim in.

"I don't know. Are we?"

"What do you think?" asked Tony.

"I think you're mad at us," said Tim.

"Do you blame me?"

"You're the one who kept Becca a secret," said Tim.

"And secrets are a bad thing?"

"We're a team," said McGee, "we shouldn't have secrets from one another."

Tony laughed, "Which team have you been working on, Tim?"

"What do you mean?"

"Let me see," Tony tapped his forehead with the palm of his hand, "ignoring Gibbs keeping his first wife _and_ daughter secret because … hey … that's a real can of worms. Let me think, has the ex-Probie kept any secrets from his team? Well, there was the sister you never told me about."

"That was …" began Tim.

"Oh, I know," said Tony, "that was because you didn't trust your co-worker to have any self-control once he knew you had an attractive sister."

"No …" said Tim unconvincingly.

"OK, I'll let you have that one. Then there was the secret dinner party which Ziva threw for all the team. Oh, wait. Not the whole team. I wasn't invited. But I guess you didn't want a socially repugnant guy like me showing up. Oh, yes. _Socially repugnant_ – that's what you called Agent Tommy in your _secret_ novel. I guess you can see how I might be confused about the whole secret keeping thing."

"Those were different," protested Tim.

" _Really?_ " drawled Tony, "and what about when you worked with Ziva on Eli's murder? Don't seem to remember you telling me or Gibbs about that."

"Tony! You're just being …"

"What? Insightful? Analytical? Oh no, you wouldn't credit me with anything like that. But you're right, there was a difference between your secrets and mine."

"Good," said Tim in a tone of relief.

"Yes. You kept those secrets because they gave you a sense of power or a sense of being better than me. You liked to think you had a loving family when I didn't seem to have one. You liked me being excluded from dinner parties and plots with Ziva because it made you feel important, made you feel an insider. And Agent Tommy? Well, to be fair, I guess that was just pure self-preservation because you knew we'd be as mad as hell when we found out."

"At least I haven't had a secret marriage," said Tim hotly. "And what about that kid you rescued? Or _pretending_ you were dating Jeanne Benoit?"

Tony took a deep breath, "Jeanne Benoit was an _assignment_. I was under direct orders from Jenny. You know what that's like, don't you? Seem to remember you working in Cyber Crimes when Vance split the team up: you didn't tell Gibbs what you were doing then, did you?"

"No," admitted Tim.

"No," agreed Tony, "because you were _under orders_ from the Director."

"What about the kid then?" asked Tim.

"And what would you have said if I had told you?" asked Tony, "Imagine it. I come in one morning and say, 'hey, everyone. Today's the anniversary of me rescuing a little boy from a burning building'. How would that have gone down with you, Tim?" Tim wriggled uncomfortably. "I thought so," said Tony, "and how would you have reacted if I'd added, 'oh, and by the way, I had to leave his little sister behind to die'. Not exactly something to share, is it?"

"OK," said McGee, "I get those. But what about Becca?"

"It was over years before I joined NCIS, McGee. And it was a really painful memory. Why should I drag it up again?"

"Yes, but …"

"And look what happened when you did find out. Supportive? Not likely. You just saw it as another chance to feel superior. 'Oh, look, Tony DiNozzo, thinks he's God's gift to women but can't stay married to one'."

"That's not what it was like."

"Then tell me. What was it like?"

"We were curious," said Tim, "and you weren't saying anything."

"But you could see I wasn't happy. At least, I hope you could. You are meant to be an investigator after all."

"I guess."

"But that didn't stop you, did it?"

"Becca seemed nice," said Tim, "so …"

"So you assumed that whatever had happened must have been my fault?" Tim didn't answer. "How long have you known me, Tim?"

"You know," said Tim a little sulkily.

"A long time. Longer than a lot of people. And yes, in that time I've dated a lot of women. But have I ever knowingly dated a married woman? Well, have I?"

"No," admitted Tim, "you've always broken up with them if you find out they're married."

"Now, to my mind," said Tony, "that suggests that I take marriage seriously. Does it suggest that to you as well?"

"Yes," said Tim, "it does."

"And, anyway," said Tony, "even if it was 'my fault', it was twenty years ago. I would have thought our years of friendship would count for something. That even if you blamed me you would still be on my side. It didn't feel like it."

"You're right," said Tim, "we _… I_ … should have been more supportive. Friends should stick together."

"So maybe we're not friends," said Tony, "perhaps we're just co-workers who rub each other up the wrong way?"

Tim felt his stomach lurch at the thought that he and Tony weren't friends. "I think of you as a friend," he insisted.

"But a friend you have to be superior to?" suggested Tony. "Tim, you're better than me at heaps of things. The Director thinks you're the future. Hell, I'm surprised he hasn't proposed marriage to you. You know, real friendship doesn't have to be competitive all the time."

"You're better at loads of things," said Tim, "you always seem so confident, so sure of yourself. You don't need to listen to self-help CDs. I've always felt I needed an …"

"An edge?" suggested Tony. Tim nodded. "Tim, I like you. I really do. I can praise you for lots of things but you're hard work sometimes."

"And you're not?" said Tim in disbelief.

"I'm an enigma," said Tony, "one of a kind, a …"

"Yeah, yeah," said Tim, "I get the picture."

"And I'm a better cook than you," said Tony, "These pork chops need a bit of work."

Tim relaxed a little; he felt that perhaps the tide had turned, "I'm sorry, Tony. I'm sorry I wasn't supportive about Becca and sorry I didn't believe you when you said it wasn't your fault that the marriage broke down. It shouldn't have taken her being exposed as a crook for us to believe that she wasn't all that she seemed."

"Thanks, Tim."

"And I'm sorry for …"

"What?"

"Making rubbish pork chops!"

"No problemo! Do you want to order some Chinese in?"

"Not pizza?" asked Tim in surprise.

"No. I've been eating a lot of pizza over the last few days?" said Tony.

"Comfort eating?" said Tim sympathetically.

"Uh? Oh no, I was away on an adventure trip. You know the sort of thing. White-water rafting at Harpers Ferry; tubing on the Shenandoah; kayaking; trekking. I'm beat. And we ate a lot of pizza."

"Who did you go with?" asked Tim cautiously, "Ducky said you'd gone with some friends."

"Guys from my men's support group," said Tony, "they heard I was feeling a bit down and organised the trip."

"They did?" said McGee a little faintly.

"Yes," said Tony flatly, "they didn't judge me or snark at me. They haven't known me very long but they know me well enough to know what would help."

"And doing adrenalin sports helped?" asked McGee doubtfully.

"Who knew?" said Tony, "but it did help. Being with non-judgemental people; active all day so I was worn out at night. Yeah, it worked. Of course, I've got to tell Gibbs that I've pulled a muscle so won't be running after any of the bad guys for a while. Hope you've got your running shoes ready; you're going to need them!"

"Thanks," said Tim bitterly, "and he will make me run."

"What you mean?"

"He's been in Captain Ahab mode all week," said Tim.

"Why?" asked Tony, "tough case come in?"

"He's always like that when you're not around," said McGee. "Didn't you know? You're the favourite."

"I am?" said Tony in surprise.

"Sure. Well, after Abby. And Ducky. But yes, you're the favourite _agent_."

"Oh," said Tony thoughtfully and with a new insight into why McGee felt the need continually to prove himself as the better agent.

Tim and Tony had just finished their Chinese takeout when there was another knock at the door. Tony went to the door and found Abby standing there. She once again did her odd jerky movement with her arms as she restrained herself from hugging Tony.

"You look good," she said earnestly, "well, actually you look tired. Are you limping? What did you do to yourself? You should take better care of yourself, you know …"

Tim wanted to interrupt the flow and explain what Tony had been doing but, with new insight, recognised that it was Tony's story to tell. He stood up,

"I'd better be going," he said, "glad you're back, Tony."

"Thanks for stopping by, Tim," said Tony almost surprised to realise that he meant it.

"See you tomorrow?" said Tim.

"Bright and early," agreed Tony.

Tim hesitantly held out his hand and, after a brief hesitation of his own, Tony shook it. They both hoped they could build on what they had discussed that night. "And I really am sorry, Tony," said Tim again.

Tony nodded, "see you tomorrow, Tim. New day."

He shut the door behind Tim and then turned to his latest guest, hoping she wouldn't stay long as his bed was calling to him.

"Can I get you some pork chops?" he asked, "Tim brought them."

"That was nice of him," said Abby, "but no thanks."

"Ah," said Tony understandingly, "you've tasted his cooking before, have you?"

"Timmy's a good cook," said Abby firmly, "you just have to … uh … pick the right recipe."

"I'm tired, Abs. What do you want?"

"I wanted to make sure you're all right."

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"We didn't know where you were," said Abby. "Gibbs has been in a foul mood for days."

"And that's my fault?" asked Tony.

"We need you and Gibbs," said Abby earnestly, "you and he; well, you're like glue. You keep us all together. Without you it's like salt without pepper, hotdogs without onions, pizza without …"

"All right," said Tony, "I get it. You're worried that if I'm not around Gibbs will be too distracted to give you the Gibbs love."

"No!" said Abby in a tone of outrage, "You know that I'd miss you just for being you. You're my rock as well. Not just Gibbs. I need _you_ as well. It's not the same without you."

"What about what I need, Abs?" asked Tony tiredly.

"I don't understand," said Abby.

"I could have done with a bit of loving the last few days when Reb … when she was around."

"You know I love you," said Abby quickly.

"Didn't feel like it," said Tony, "seemed you'd replaced me with her pretty quick."

"It wasn't like that!" said Abby, "I liked her. I could tell that you liked her once."

" _Once_ ," said Tony emphatically.

"And I wanted you both to be happy again," said Abby, "it was because I loved you that I wanted you to be back together. I meant well."

Tony sighed, "Abs, you're a scientist. You're used to putting things together and getting the expected chemical reaction. Or you do a reconstruction on your computer and you work out what happened."

"Yes," said Abby a little puzzled.

"But Rebecca and me, well we're not chemicals to be combined. We're not computer programs that you can generate. We're people. People with a really bad history, and you can't wipe that out."

"But …"

"And you had no right to try," said Tony firmly.

"I just …" began Abby.

"No," said Tony. "Remember when I tried to help you when you were all torn up about that short guy you were dating?"

"Y-e-s," said Abby reluctantly.

"I don't remember you being very receptive when I tried to 'fix' that. You didn't want to tell me what was going on. You shut me out. For someone who thinks they're pretty open you can be sensitive about your relationships. You're quick to tell us to back off if we start interfering."

"I guess," admitted Abby.

"So you should have known how I felt," said Tony, "and I've never locked you in with anyone."

"But I didn't know that Becca was a criminal," said Abby, "and I'd scratch her eyes out if I saw her now. Well, actually, I probably wouldn't because I'm not real violent. But I'd wipe her hard drive!"

"That's not the point, Abs," said Tony, "it wouldn't matter if Rebecca was as pure as the purest thing going: you were wrong to try to force the issue. Do you see that?"

"It's just that we hardly ever get to see the women you date," said Abby, "and I just wanted to help."

"I'm not a toy, Abs. Don't try and fix me. Don't try and make me into something I'm not. And you need to trust me."

"I do," insisted Abby.

"No, you don't. You were ready to believe that it was my fault that I'm not still married to her."

"But you wouldn't talk to us about it," said Abby almost with a wail. "What were we supposed to think?"

"Why were you supposed to think about it at all?" asked Tony, "you've known me for a long time. Couldn't you use what you know about me? About loyalty? Couldn't you have used all that to believe the best of me?"

"But it was what I know about you that made me believe the best about Becca."

"What?"

"I couldn't believe that you'd been wrong when you married her. I thought she must have been a good person because you wouldn't have made a mistake."

"So you still think it was all my fault?" said Tony, "it was my fault for marrying a bad'un in the first place?"

"No," said Abby, "that's not what I meant."

"Abby," said Tony firmly, "can you just accept that the marriage just brings back really bad memories? That I don't want to talk about it. That I don't want it fixed. That it being a 'secret' wasn't a reflection on our friendship?"

"It wasn't?" said Abby hopefully.

"No, it wasn't. I didn't talk about it because it was in the past, over and done with. But I never thought, if you did find out, that you wouldn't have been on my side. That hurts."

"I'm sorry," said Abby, "truly sorry. And I promise I'll never try to fix things for you again."

"Never?" said Tony doubtfully.

"Pinky swear," affirmed Abby, "or at least I'll try. And if I forget you've got permission to …"

"What? Donate Bert to the zoo?"

"Well, perhaps not. But you've got permission to remind me of my promise."

"Good enough," said Tony, "but remember friends should trust each other."

"Um, can I ask you something?" said Abby hesitantly.

"OK," said Tony cautiously, "but I may not answer."

"Your friends from OSU. They knew you and Becca?"

"Yes, for a long time."

"What did they do when you split up?"

"They knew what she did."

"And?" asked Abby.

"So they were on my side. They never doubted what _I'd_ done. They rallied round. Don't think I'd have got through it without them. Senior certainly wasn't around."

"That's good," said Abby warmly.

"They were _real_ friends," said Tony.

"We're your friends," protested Abby, "you know that."

"I thought so," agreed Tony.

"Don't you think so now?" asked Abby.

"I want to," said Tony honestly.

"I'm going to make _sure_ you know that, Mister," said Abby firmly. "I can't do without my rock."

"OK," said Tony, "let's call it a work in progress." Abby looked at him worriedly so Tony opened his arms as an invitation for a hug. Abby ran into his arms and sighed contentedly.

"Gibbs'll be so pleased you're back," she said.

Tony winced. Conversations with Tim and Abby had been tough enough; he wondered if Vance would give him another week of leave so he could build up enough strength to beard the lion in his den. And then he wondered why it was up to him to go to Gibbs; perhaps he should wait for Gibbs to come to him.

* * *

 _AN: sorry, really thought this was going to be the final chapter but Tim and Abby insisted on having a say and Gibbs is still in his basement!_


	11. Chapter 11

"Well, my boy," said Ducky as he examined Tony's leg, "I believe you are right. This is just a simple muscle strain. Continue to rest it and take painkillers if you need to."

"Thanks, Ducky," said Tony, "but you didn't need to check. It's fine."

"Timothy mentioned that you had damaged yourself," said Ducky, "so I thought it prudent to check. And besides, it gives me an opportunity to ask how you enjoyed your time away."

"It was great, Ducky. The guys in my supp …"

"Indeed, time away with good friends is a wonderful restorative. For many years I kept in close contact with my fellow medical students and we often arranged invigorating weekends away. Alas, as time went on, we became increasingly separated by geography and, of course, by … well … you know."

"No, Ducky, I don't."

"The personage with the large sickle."

"Who?"

"The Grim Reaper, dear boy. I fear that I am now separated from many of my former friends as they have now passed to _the undiscover'd country, from whose bourn no traveller returns."_

"Ducky?"

"Hamlet, Anthony. Many of my friends have died."

"I'm sorry, Ducky," said Tony.

"That's quite all right. It is one of the penalties of growing old and I confess that I sometimes feel a certain satisfaction when I read yet another obituary and realise that I have outlived someone else. I fear the consolations of age are not always very noble! And, of course, even if I were still in communication with my fellow students we would hardly be able to enjoy the sort of excursion from which you have just returned. Which reminds me, I was asking how you had enjoyed your time away before I went on a divagation."

"Huh?" said Tony who had lost the thread."

"How was your adventure break?" asked Ducky.

"Oh," said Tony as he caught up, "it was great. And I didn't do my leg in until the last day. We were tubing down the Shenandoah …"

"You were _what_?" asked Ducky.

"You sit on this huge inner tubing and then take to the river. "

"Good lord," said Ducky, "how extraordinary."

"It's good," said Tony, "but we got into some rough water and I came off."

"Perhaps it is as well that you were only away for a relatively short time," said Ducky, "or you might have done even more damage to yourself."

"Damage?" asked Gibbs as he walked into Autopsy, "what you done now, DiNozzo?"

"Just a muscle strain," said Tony as he put his sock and shoe back on, "I told McGee that he might have to do the running for a couple days."

"You fit for work?" asked Gibbs gruffly.

"I'm fine," said Tony.

"Been enough disruption already," said Gibbs.

"Boss?" asked Tony.

"McGee's been a bag of nerves. Abby's wringing her hands all the time and worrying about you." Tony gritted his teeth and concentrated on putting the shoe on. "They said they came to see you last night. You sorted things out with them?"

"Boss?"

"DiNozzo! You tried to assault McGee and you made Abby cry! Have you fixed things?"

"I didn't think you cared about things like that?" said Tony feeling his temper rise.

"I do when it messes up the team," said Gibbs, "is it fixed?"

"Tim and Abby apologised, if that's what you mean."

"You made them say sorry?" asked Gibbs.

"No. I didn't _make_ them. Sometimes people realise they've done something wrong and apologise. I know you don't understand that idea but …"

"Whatever," said Gibbs, "so long as it's sorted. That's all I care about."

"It's sorted, Gibbs," said Tony stiffly.

"Good," said Gibbs, softening a bit. "Just warn us next time if another ex-wife is going to turn up."

Tony jumped off the autopsy table on which he had been sitting and stood straight and still for a moment. "Going back to work, Gibbs," he said in a completely emotionless voice. "Thanks, Ducky."

Ducky watched Tony walk out and then turned on Gibbs, "Really, Jethro! Do you rehearse these things in that dratted basement of yours?"

"What?" asked Gibbs in honest bewilderment.

"You say the most insensitive things which seem almost designed to be as hurtful as possible."

"I'm not going to coddle them, Duck," said Gibbs.

"Good heavens," said Ducky, "there's no danger of anyone accusing you of being soft on them and especially not of being soft with Anthony."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You like to think of the team as being a family."

"Yes," agreed Gibbs.

"Then I can't imagine what your idea of family is. I had the privilege of meeting your dear late father and he was one of the kindest and most honourable men I have ever known. I can't believe that he gave you the model of a family where the members have to earn love and approval from a remote autocrat of a father."

"Families should work together," hissed Gibbs, "they shouldn't have secrets from each other."

Ducky sighed sadly, "So that's still what this is all about, Jethro. You can't bear the thought that there was something about Anthony which you didn't know."

"No that's not it," said Gibbs, "but this was something which disrupted the team. Prevented them from doing their work."

"And if you had benched Anthony, as he requested, the problem might not have arisen."

"Not the point," said Gibbs.

"Leave, Jethro," said Ducky.

"What?"

"I have work to do. And I see little point in continuing this conversation as you seem incapable of seeing this situation from anyone's point of view except your own."

"Duck …"

"No, Jethro. Go. You are one of my closest friends and I do not want to quarrel with you. I fear if you remain, that is what will happen." Gibbs hesitated but then turned to leave. As he got to the door, Ducky said, "Look in the mirror, Jethro. And remember _your_ secrets."

NCISNCIS

That evening, Gibbs was sitting at his work table in the basement with his latest project in front of him but finding himself unwilling or unable to do any work on it. He was reflecting instead on the day which had just passed. He was shaken by the near quarrel with Ducky who was renowned for never losing his temper and he was shaken by doubts about whether he had handled DiNozzo well.

Gibbs didn't think he was a hypocrite and would have been offended if anyone had levelled that accusation at him. Somehow he thought that it was acceptable for him to have secrets but that he couldn't run his team if they weren't open with him. He was a strong leader who demanded loyalty from his team members and he believed that had served him well. Gibbs wanted his people to become the best and so he constantly challenged them to get better; being good was not enough, there was always something else to aim for. He was sparing with his praise, partly because he didn't want them to rest on their laurels and partly because he took excellence for granted.

If challenged, Gibbs would also have said that he cared for his team. They were trained to look out for each other, their injury record was good and he was ready to put his life on the line for them if needed: he would have no hesitation in dying for any of them. They might work long hours for a demanding boss but they were doing a good and worthwhile job and that should be satisfaction enough.

Gibbs also knew that he struggled with relationships, open emotions made him uneasy. He had learned to cope with Abby's exuberance but that was partly at least, he suspected, because she was in her lab most of the time and he could walk away if he needed to. McGee was already fairly self-contained: the combination of the Admiral's training, DiNozzo's hazing and fear of Gibbs' wrath or contempt meant that he soon learned not to expect much milk of human kindness from Gibbs. Ellie Bishop was a puzzle: new to the team, she seemed to expect social interaction with her co-workers and was still finding her way. Gibbs could humour this eccentricity so long as it didn't disrupt the team; he would ignore it until it annoyed him and then she would have to change.

Which brought him back to DiNozzo. DiNozzo who should be the person he knew best but who had now thrown him a curve ball. Ducky had hinted on various occasions that he and Tony were alike and Gibbs had found some comfort in that. It meant that he could assume that Tony would think the same as he did; would put up with the rudeness and abruptness because he understood Gibbs' motivation. And DiNozzo had; he had become the person Gibbs trusted and relied on most. As a result, Gibbs had been able to turn his attention, his meagre store of softness, to the other members of his team and he had confidently left Tony to find his own way. Except that sometimes Tony had looked left out or hurt by Gibbs' words or actions and sometimes he had looked as if he had wanted to challenge Gibbs' way of doing things. And that was unacceptable, there could only be one team leader.

And then Gibbs had dragged Rebecca Whitely into the squad room and found that his assumptions about DiNozzo were turned upside-down because Tony had been keeping a secret and Gibbs found that he didn't know him as well as he thought. Gibbs wasn't completely without compassion and he regretted that Tony was obviously uncomfortable with his ex-wife showing up but somehow that softer feeling was overridden by irritation that the team were thrown into disarray and, most strongly, by anger that Tony had kept this secret from his Boss. In Gibb's more fair-minded moments he could see that Tony had probably been wise not to tell the team about Rebecca but he couldn't get over that _he_ hadn't been trusted with the secret. Gibbs had thought he was more important than that; surely he _deserved_ to have been told. The way that the team went off track in dealing with Becca proved to Gibbs that he was right to be angry with Tony.

But somehow, sitting his basement that night, thinking of how Tony had sat in stony silence all day, Gibbs began to wonder if he was wrong and he began to wonder if he ran the risk of losing Tony; that perhaps his 'tough love' was no longer the right tool to use. He thumped the work table decisively and sprang up off his seat to run up the stairs. A few minutes later he was knocking on DiNozzo's door. There was no answer.

"He's out," said Tony's next door neighbour as he walked by with some shopping, "it's his men's group night."

Gibbs grunted and stifled a wish to curse Tony's support group with their casseroles and thoughtfulness. "Bet they hug trees too," he muttered before taking one last look at Tony's door and leaving.

NCISNCIS

Gibbs was back at his worktable when he heard the sound of feet coming down the basement stairs.

"Gordon said you'd been by," said Tony.

"Huh," said Gibbs.

"He's better than a security camera," commented Tony, "he always knows who's been to visit."

"Huh," said Gibbs again.

"As you didn't phone, I'm going to assume we didn't get a case," said Tony.

"No."

Tony sat down on the fourth step of the stairs, clasped his hands together, stared at the wall opposite him and began to speak.

"We got engaged in our final year. When the plan for me to play pro basketball was blown out of the water we moved to Peoria to be nearer her family. I went to Police Academy and she got a job at an accountancy firm. A good job. She might have had to give up her dream of a glamorous life but she wasn't doing some dead end job. We got married after I finished training and then it all began to go wrong.

"She found fault with everything; got angry, irritable, resentful, jealous. For a long time I thought it was my fault, that I'd let her down in some way. I still don't know what made her change but now I think she was never the person I thought she was, that she was able to be nice while everything was going her way. Ducky thinks she has some psychopathic tendencies: lack of empathy, cruel, manipulative and without a moral sense.

"Anyway, to cut a long story short, we decided we couldn't go on. Rebecca insisted we get an annulment. Said she wanted to forget it had ever happened. We should wipe the slate clean and start again. So, somehow, she managed to get what she wanted: again."

Gibbs coughed, "no need to be embarrassed about a marriage ending," he said, "hell, I've had three divorces."

"And you've been open and frank about all of them," said Tony drily, looking away from the wall to glance at Gibbs. "I agreed to everything she wanted as a settlement," said Tony, "told her I'd leave it up to her what to do with the wedding presents although I asked her to send Uncle Clive's back as he'd sent a Paddington heirloom – a hideous silver epergne, but he was fond of it and it didn't seem right to keep hold of it. We were supposed to meet at the house to work out what to do with the rest of our stuff. At the last minute, Marla the lawyer brought the date forward to a day I couldn't make because I was working." He swallowed before continuing.

"By that time I was making sure my lawyer, Mark was coming with me to any meetings. He was a frat brother from OSU so he was still training but he came along as a friend. We went to the house as soon as I could get there. The house was stripped bare, she'd taken everything."

Gibbs winced, "know how that feels," he said, "Diane cleared my bank account when she left. Fornell will tell you the same."

"Rebecca didn't just take money," said Tony, "she took everything that could possibly have any value. I remember I kept walking from room to room thinking I'd find where she'd put my stuff but I didn't. Then Mark shouted from the garden so I went out there and found the remains of a fire. She'd burned everything she hadn't taken. All my clothes, sporting certificates, photos – everything. You ever wondered why I don't have many photos in my apartment? No cups or trophies from when I was a college athlete? Well, it's because Rebecca either stole them or destroyed them. She even burned my police uniform. I just had the clothes I stood up in. Now do you see why I was embarrassed, Gibbs?"

"What did you do about it?" asked Gibbs.

"Mark contacted her lawyer but she just said that I'd forfeited any right to discussion because I hadn't kept the appointment. That Rebecca had simply cleared the house and burned any garbage that was left; it was just unfortunate if she'd accidentally destroyed anything that I wanted. There was nothing I could do. Had to admit to my sergeant what had happened so I could get another uniform. Contacted Senior to see if he could loan me any money to tide me over till the next pay check but he was on his honeymoon and didn't reply. My frat brothers came through, loaned me some money and I went to thrift shops to buy clothes.

"Can you see why I wanted to forget about it all, Gibbs? She really did a number on me: destroyed my self-confidence, my dreams, and my hopes and took everything from me. She should have waited though. It turned out my grandparents had set up a trust for me which matured when I was 25: if she'd waited a while she'd have got her claws on that as well. I stuck it out at Peoria for a while but it didn't have happy memories so I left pretty soon. By the time I'd moved on to Baltimore things were beginning to settle down for me and then Wendy finished me off really. Leaving me at the altar pretty much put the boot in."

Gibbs tried to think what to say.

"So, Gibbs, you can see that it wasn't really a story to share. I was embarrassed and ashamed of the whole thing. I can see now that keeping it a secret was probably a bad thing in some ways; cut me off from people, made me lonely but it was hurting _me_. It was nothing to do with team dynamics or team trust."

Gibbs found himself at a loss and said nothing. Tony got up, "I assumed you'd come round tonight because you wanted to talk, that you'd made the first move. So, I've told you what you wanted to know. Night, Gibbs."

Gibbs realised that Tony was about to go, "Wait, DiNozzo!"

Tony paused and looked expectant, "What, Gibbs? I haven't got anything else to say."

"DiNozzo, wait. I can see why you kept quiet about it."

"So I'm _forgiven_? Back in the fold?"

"Like I said, I see why you didn't want to talk about it."

"You remember when Delilah got hurt?" said Tony.

"Sure. Why bring that up now?" asked Gibbs.

"You were supportive to Tim. Looked out for him. Cared. It was quite touching."

"It's what teams do," said Gibbs with a touch of complacence.

"Sure. Tim told me that he'd called you. And you went. To the hospital. That you sat with him when he asked you."

"Yes. So what?"

"I have this problem. I can't imagine you doing the same with me," said Tony.

"You're jealous of McGee? Jeez, DiNozzo."

"Not jealous exactly. No, I don't want to be McGee. But I realise I wouldn't ask you to come sit with me because you'd see it as a sign of weakness. If I'm not perfect, I'm no use to you."

"That's not true, DiNozzo. You know I depend on you."

"Sure. As long as I do what you say. As long as I don't bring any pesky personal problems with me. Abby thinks you see the team as family. Is she right?"

"Yes," said Gibbs, "she is."

"Where do I fit in the family, Gibbs?"

"What's got into you, DiNozzo?"

"I can't figure it out, Gibbs. I thought I knew once. Hell, perhaps you knew once. But I can't remember the last time you said my name without a snarl. And you never call me Tony anymore; which is odd because it would be quicker to say Tony than DiNozzo … you could cut down the time you have to speak with me."

"DiNozzo!"

"There you go! That's the tone I was talking about. Hard to figure how you fit into a family when you're called by your surname. I used to think I was like the redheaded step-child."

"What?"

"You know, the kid nobody wants. But I don't think that now."

"Good."

"Because if I was a _red_ headed kid, you'd probably like me!"

Tony continued without giving a bewildered Gibbs a chance to answer. "I can figure out why McGee wanted to know about Rebecca. He probably saw it as a chance to make fun of me, to make me look a bit small, a chance to go up a rung in your estimation. And Abby, well, I guess she felt a bit sorry for me but really she saw Rebecca and me as one of her computer programs which had a bit of a bug in it. All she had to do was re-write it a bit and it would all be OK again. And she might be the hero of the story."

"Thought you'd sorted things out with them?" asked Gibbs.

"Just let's say it's a work in progress. That I've lowered my expectations."

"What do you mean?"

"I see the difference now between co-workers and friends. When I told my support group about Rebecca, you know what they said?"

"No."

"Well, what they _didn't_ say was 'what did you do wrong?' or imply that it must have been my fault. They didn't think it was funny or a chance to score points. They asked me how I felt about it all. Asked me how I was coping. Guess that's the difference between friends and co-workers."

"Abby and McGee are your friends," said Gibbs.

Tony shrugged, "may be. Like I said, work in progress. But you, Gibbs, I can't work out why you wanted to know. Can't figure it's because you care. I've told you the story and all you've done is relate it to your own history: you haven't asked me how I'm coping, how I feel."

"You look better than you did," said Gibbs, "figured that your time away with your _support group_ had fixed you."

"So you didn't need to do anything? Apart from checking that I'd smoothed things over with McGee and Abby?"

"I'm team lead, I have a responsibility to the team," said Gibbs, "You know that."

"Yes, I do. I'm just not sure any more where I fit into the team."

Gibbs took a deep breath as he tried to decide what he could say which would convince Tony.

"You're right. I went to your place because I wanted to talk to you. Try and get us back to what we used to be. You know you haven't called me _Boss_ since you came down here."

"So you do notice names, Gibbs," said Tony, "so not calling me _Tony_ is deliberate, not an oversight?"

"I thought I knew you, Tony. You're the one I rely on, the one I trust so I was thrown when it turned out you had this huge secret, that you didn't trust me enough to have told me. But I do care. You know I don't do the touchy feely stuff but you matter to me … and not just because you're the best agent I've ever worked with. It goes deeper than that."

"That's good to hear, Gibbs. And believe me, I know you don't go in for the touch feely stuff: you're more the iron fist in the iron glove. But lately, Gibbs, it's been hard to believe that you care at all. It's been easier to believe that you don't think much of me as a person or as an agent."

"That's not true, Tony," said Gibbs, "you're wrong." Gibbs saw Tony about to answer and hurried on, "but I don't blame you for thinking that."

"OK," said Tony, "I'll believe you."

"Good," said Gibbs, "so are we good now?"

"Work in progress," said Tony, "like with Abby and McGee. I'm lowering my expectations. For now I'll settle for seeing you as a co-worker and not as a friend or some weird type of father figure. Perhaps your precious team will function better that way."

"We need you, Tony," said Gibbs earnestly.

"Good to know, Gibbs. I'm just not so sure _I_ need _you_. It doesn't feel as if my co-workers have done much for me recently. I told you about Rebecca to show that I was willing to sacrifice my feeling to give way to you. But it's the last time, Boss. I won't do it again, I won't make any more allowances; I won't think that your abuse is endearing or think that a head slap is your way of showing affection. I'm done, Gibbs. You have to find a new way."

"Understood, Tony," said Gibbs.

"Night, Boss," said Tony.

It was only as Tony was walking up the stairs that Gibbs noticed the glint of the silver Christening cup standing on a shelf. He was about to call Tony back to give it to him but he hesitated. Once he would have known what to do; it would have been an easy call but now he wasn't sure. Would Tony be happy to get this lone memento back or would it bring back even more bad memories? Once Gibbs would have returned it and been the hero but now he found himself considering Tony's feelings about it. He hoped that was a good sign.

EPILOGUE

Tony got to work the next day to find a small parcel on his desk.

"Open it," ordered Gibbs.

Tony opened the package and gasped when he saw the Christening mug inside. He raised an eyebrow in question,

"Fornell and I found it at Becca's apartment. I'm guessing it's yours?"

Tony nodded and lifted the cup out. Ellie, McGee and Abby arrived at that moment. Tony started to hide the cup away but then caught Gibbs looking at him challengingly. He put the cup on his desk where it was seen immediately.

"Is that yours?" asked Abby, "it's cool!"

"Where did it come from?" asked Ellie.

Tony took a deep breath and a leap of faith as he remembered the pain of secrets past. "The Boss and Fornell found it in Rebecca's apartment. You see she …" He began to tell the story. It was a beginning, he thought. Who knew where it would end?

* * *

 _AN: done! At last! It nearly got split into two chapters but I thought that would be trying your patience too much - so you got a mammoth last chapter instead. Thank you to everyone who has taken an interest in the story … the characters have been returned to their owners physically sound but emotionally drained._


End file.
